Napster vs The Record Labels - Fight to the Death | 6
Business Wars
Audible
4.6 • 13.5K Ratings
🗓️ 6 November 2018
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Napster is approaching its death throes. The file sharing company has one shot left: Bertelsmann, the record label that’s confident it has come up with a foolproof plan to profit from its former foe. But Bertelsmann forgot about one thing. It needs the buy-in of other labels to make its rescue plan work. And the other music bosses are still livid that Bertelsmann went behind their backs to partner with Napster. They won’t be stepping up to help either company.
Napster is running out of options. There’s only one thing that might still work: it’s got to go legitimate.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars, add free on Amazon music. |
| 0:04.6 | Download the app today. |
| 0:07.0 | It's October 2000. |
| 0:15.9 | Strauss Zellnick, the chief operating officer of record label BMG, is home sleeping off |
| 0:20.6 | the effects of oral surgery. |
| 0:22.6 | When the phone rings, he fumbles to pick it up. |
| 0:26.1 | On the line, is Andrea Schmidt, the head of electronic commerce at Bertelsman, which owns |
| 0:31.6 | BMG. |
| 0:33.1 | Hello? |
| 0:34.1 | Sorry to disturb you, but we wanted you to know that we're investing in Napster. |
| 0:39.3 | We're dropping the lawsuit against them and making the announcement tomorrow. |
| 0:42.9 | Fighting through the fog of anesthesia, Strauss Zellnick is suddenly very much awake. |
| 0:48.8 | How could BMG not know about this? |
| 0:51.1 | It took us until now to come up with a plan. |
| 0:55.3 | Well, I'm not sure what you did about the massive infringement and the lack of a deal |
| 0:59.8 | with the other labels. |
| 1:01.6 | Napster is violating the copyright law every day. |
| 1:04.8 | And you know, if Bertelsman backs them, then our own copyrights are at risk. |
| 1:08.0 | Haven't you heard of the doctrine of unclean hands? |
| 1:10.2 | Oh, enlighten me, Strauss. |
| 1:12.2 | Okay, it's pretty simple. |
| 1:14.1 | If we're guilty of stealing music, then legally we can't stop people from stealing from us. |
... |
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