Napster vs The Record Labels - The Beginning of the End | 1
Business Wars
Audible
4.6 • 13.5K Ratings
🗓️ 18 October 2018
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s 2000, and the record industry is just waking up to a major threat to its business model: an online file-sharing system created by a 17-year-old kid from Massachusetts. With Napster — so called after the nickname its founder earned on the basketball court — users can download music for free. Why would anyone pay 18 or 20 bucks for a CD ever again?
Musicians like the Offspring greet the technology with open arms. Some bands see Napster as a way to make more money on each song while breaking the control of the record labels over their music. But not so fast. The record industry isn’t just going to give up its $15 billion in annual profits. And the music execs are convinced: the courts will be on their side.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars at free on Amazon music. |
| 0:04.8 | Download the app today. |
| 0:14.1 | It is February 24, 2000 at the four seasons hotel in Beverly Hills. |
| 0:19.8 | Hillary Rosen is one of Los Angeles entertainment industry's most powerful women. |
| 0:25.0 | She heads the Recording Industry Association of America, and she's summoned its board members. |
| 0:30.9 | She's got some bad news for them. |
| 0:34.1 | For more than a year, she's been concerned about how Silicon Valley might shake up the music |
| 0:38.9 | industry. |
| 0:40.2 | And for the past several months, one upstart has been keeping her awake at night. |
| 0:46.0 | It's time to tell them why. |
| 0:49.3 | You know about Napster. |
| 0:51.0 | We've already sued them and we're going to win. |
| 0:54.1 | But it's going to take a while. |
| 0:56.4 | In the meantime, the media has been all over Napster and that's just making it more |
| 1:00.8 | popular by the hour. |
| 1:02.9 | You need to understand how bad this is. |
| 1:05.9 | She motions to a staffer who opens a laptop, downloads the software application called |
| 1:11.1 | Napster, and registers as a new user. |
| 1:14.2 | All of this takes less than a minute. |
| 1:17.4 | The board members raise their eyebrows. |
| 1:20.2 | They hadn't known how easy it was. |
| 1:22.9 | Rosen turns to the board. |
... |
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