There’s a new player in the streaming music scene, and it’s name is Napster. No, you have not been suddenly transported to your college dorm room, where you spent hours upon hours gleefully downloading mp3 after mp3: though it’s not exactly a new venture, streaming music service Rhapsody has decided to rebrand itself Napster, a service it owns, because why not? [More]
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Court Upholds Judgment Against Napster Co-Founder In Jerk.Com Case
By 5.18.16
Two years ago, the Federal Trade Commission accused Napster co-founder, and creator of Jerk.com, John Fanning of pilfering data from Facebook accounts then charging people $30 each to manage their online reputations. A federal appeals court recently upheld most of the FTC’s ruling that Fanning deceived consumers about the source of the information contained on Jerk.com and the benefits of paying for membership. [More]
Gene Simmons Compares Napster To Nazis, Blames Fans For Killing Music Industry
By 1.17.14
In spite of the fact that superstar rock bands and pop artists still travel the world in private jets and tricked-out custom buses while having their every whim catered to before and after performing to thousands of fans who pay huge amounts of money for tickets, the music industry is dead. At least if you believe Gene Simmons of KISS. And who’s to blame for this death that has occurred only in Mr. Simmons’ mind? That would be music fans. [More]
There Are Now 238 Fewer Indie Labels On Streaming Services Like Spotify, Rdio
By 11.22.11
While music fans have been happy to listen to their favorite tunes with Spotify, Rdio, Napster and other streaming services, some of those in the business of actually selling music aren’t so pleased with the results. One distributor has announced it’s pulling 238 indie labels from streaming services. [More]
Thanks, Napster, But You Don't Need To Send Me My Password
By 11.3.10
Stephen says Napster sent him an email with his username and password because his subscription was about to expire. Upset by what he saw as an unsolicited violation of his privacy, he complained to the music service and got a response that assured him his “private information is safe.” [More]
RIAA Pockets Filesharing Settlement Money, Doesn't Pay Artists Whose Copyrights Were Infringed
By 3.17.08
None of the estimated $400 million that the RIAA received in settlements with Napster, KaZaA, and Bolt over allegations of copyright infringement has gone to the artists whose copyrights were allegedly infringed. Now the artists are considering suing the RIAA.
Napster Drops DRM, Will (Finally) Sell MP3s
By 1.7.08
Napster, once a file-sharing service that famously drug the RIAA kicking and litigating into the digital music era, will finally drop DRM and start selling mp3s, says Ars Technica.
Canceling Napster Takes 30 Minutes On The Phone
By 12.31.07
Eliot Van Buskirk over at Wired found that he was no longer in need of his Rhapsody, Napster and Yahoo! Music subscriptions now that the RIAA is starting to warm up to the idea of DRM-free music.
AT&T: Napster On Your Phone For $1.99 Per Track?
By 10.22.07
Here’s some news for those of you out there who have so much money you literally can not think of anything else to do with it: AT&T has announced a partnership with Napster in which you can download songs to your phone for “only” $1.99 a track or 5 for $7.49.
How The Recording Industry Killed Itself
By 6.28.07
In the fall of 2003, the RIAA filed its first copyright-infringement lawsuits against file sharers. They’ve since sued more than 20,000 music fans. The RIAA maintains that the lawsuits are meant to spread the word that unauthorized downloading can have consequences. “It isn’t being done on a punitive basis,” says RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol. But file-sharing isn’t going away — there was a 4.4 percent increase in the number of peer-to-peer users in 2006, with about a billion tracks downloaded illegally per month, according to research group BigChampagne.
Please Ignore the 800 Pound Guerilla Marketer in the Corner, Napster Frontmen Beg
By 7.24.06
We could have been the ones to get a bad PR flack fired. Two weeks ago, Nadine at Guerilla PR tried to airplane gaming blog Kotaku a big bowl of Napster payola:
