Napster vs The Record Labels - Free is Costly | 3
Business Wars
Audible
4.6 • 13.5K Ratings
🗓️ 25 October 2018
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Napster co-founders Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker finally get to Silicon Valley, where their dream for music sharing is supposed to take off. When word gets out about what Napster is doing, software programmers are literally banging on the doors, begging to work for Napster for free. Their idea is solid, but the finances are weak. It’s time to incorporate and find investors. Shawn turns to draw up papers. To Shawn’s shock, his uncle takes 70 percent of the company for the effort. And, as it turns out, it costs a lot of money to bring the world free music.
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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 | October 1999. |
| 0:17.6 | The techno beats from the mighty dub cats are pounding at a rave in Oakland. |
| 0:25.8 | Napster only has 150,000 users, but its creators know this is just the beginning. |
| 0:32.5 | It was Napster co-founder Sean Parker's idea to spend some of their new investors' money |
| 0:37.6 | to help sponsor this rave and put up a booth to spread the word about a file sharing program |
| 0:43.2 | to edgy music fans. |
| 0:45.4 | Sean Fanning is on ecstasy, and is euphorically taking in the scene. |
| 0:50.8 | Before he moved out to the Bay Area, he didn't know anything about the world's hot spot |
| 0:54.9 | for innovation, but he sure hadn't imagined it would look like this. |
| 1:01.2 | This is awesome! |
| 1:03.6 | Parker laughs and looks around at people having fun. |
| 1:06.9 | The smell of marijuana drifts through the air. |
| 1:09.4 | Yeah, can you believe this? |
| 1:11.9 | What are we even doing in California? |
| 1:14.9 | Perhaps it's not surprising that a pair of teenagers new to the region and flush with other |
| 1:19.1 | people's cash would think that taking drugs and rocking out on behalf of the company is |
| 1:24.0 | a wise move. |
| 1:26.2 | With them is Eileen Richardson, who bought Parker's line about reaching the hipkids first. |
| 1:32.4 | She's got Merlot streaks in her hair and loves club music. |
| 1:36.0 | She's an unorthodox CEO for unorthodox circumstances. |
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