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Twenty Thousand Hertz

Napster: How free music broke the industry

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Design, Music, Music Commentary, Arts

4.94.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2020

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In less than two years, Napster became a global sensation... and then record labels and multi-platinum artists brought it crashing down. But in its short lifespan, Napster transformed our ideas about how we consume music, and how much we're willing to pay for it. This story comes from the podcast Spectacular Failures. Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced by Defacto Sound. Subscribe on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see our video series. If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mystery.20k.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Support the show and get ad-free episodes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠20k.org/plus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Dallas on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠Facebook⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our community on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reddit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Subscribe to Spectacular Failures wherever you get your podcasts. Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/napster Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

It's a new year and many of us are committing to exercising and eating healthier.

0:04.8

But another crucial part of staying healthy is keeping on top of your doctor appointments.

0:09.8

That's where Zoc Doc comes in.

0:12.0

Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoch.com slash Hertz to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.

0:19.7

That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash H-E-R-T-Z.

0:24.1

Zococ dot com slash Hertz.

0:30.6

You're listening to 20,000 Hertz. I'm Dallas Taylor.

0:37.1

If you spent any time on the internet in the early 2000s, there's a good chance you're familiar

0:42.3

with Napster.

0:43.3

I have to admit, I may have even downloaded a few songs myself, very slowly, one track at

0:49.3

a time.

0:50.3

Back then, it didn't feel totally legitimate, but it also wasn't clear that it was illegal either.

0:55.9

It felt like this magical portal to all of the amazing music that was out there just waiting to be

1:00.6

discovered. Of course, within a couple of years, that portal was completely closed off.

1:06.3

But even though Napster crashed and burned, everything that's come since then, iTunes,

1:10.5

Pandora, Spotify,

1:12.0

they all feel like they're part of a direct line that goes right back to Napster, because in a lot

1:16.4

of ways, they are. It turns out, there's a wild story behind the rise and fall of Napster.

1:22.7

It's a story about a music industry that was completely unprepared for the internet.

1:27.1

It's also about

1:27.7

regular people eager for a new way to hear music and young innovators who were in way over

1:33.1

their heads. This story comes from the podcast, Spectacular Failures. Here's host Lauren Ober.

...

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