Music industry asks Napster founder, former arch foe, for help
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LOS ANGELES: The recording industry has turned to its former arch-nemesis, the founder of online music file-swapping service Napster, to help it beat the piracy that it once accused him of spawning.
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Napster Creator Unleashes New File Sharing Service  Napster was a revolutionary product. It practically gave birth to the p2p industry on the Internet. It has lead to a stage that big corporations of the music industry are practically scared of losing a major chunk of their business from this phenomenon. And ...
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It's bad for business Column The DRM walls are crumbling. Earlier this week, Steve Jobs called on the major record labels to allow online music sales unfettered by digital rights management restrictions.â¦
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CANNES, France  - Paul McGuinness, longtime manager of rock band U2, has called on Internet service providers to immediately introduce disconnection policies to end illegal music downloads and urged governments to make sure they do.
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But look to lawsuit stick rather than iTunes carrot for the cause
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Inside the P2P talks Exclusive The record industry is pressing the UK's ISPs for a deal that would see persistent illegal file sharers automatically booted off the net.â¦
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Back in Napster&#39;s controversial days of illegal file-swapping, Metallica led the charge against digital piracy that was running rampant on the site. Fast-forward a few years and witness the rise of individual recording artists once again taking action against illegal use of their musical masterpieces.
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(InfoWorld) - Napster, the remade version of the popular Internet music sharing service, is in talks over a sale or possible strategic partnership, the company said Monday. The announcement comes as a steady stream of new competitors enter the market, includingÂ SanDisk with partner RealNetworks, andÂ Microsoft with its Zune MarketplaceÂ strategy. It also comes amid a sharp downturn in user figures for Napster, which has seen its user base erode to 512,000 users at the end of June, from 606,000 at the end of March. Napster said it has hired UBS Investment Bank to assist management in the "evaluation of strategic alternatives," in response to interest from a third party in potentially acquiring or establishing a venture with the company. Napster also said it remains in a strong position to continue building its own business, with or without such a deal, highlighting its cash position of $97 million. The announcement sent Napster's Nasdaq-listed stock up 12.4 percent in after-market trading, to $3.99. The company set no timetable for finalizing the evaluation, and said the talks may not result in any deals. Formed in 1999, Napster popularized peer-to-peer music sharing on the Internet, gaining notoriety when a recording industry lawsuit ultimately shut it down and set the precedent for further legal victories over similar online services. A few years after the legal defeat, RoxioÂ bought the rights to its name, and in late 2003Â re-launched itÂ as a legal music download store. Napster faced stiff competition from the moment of its rebirth, mainly from Apple ComputerÂ and its popular iPods, and the iTunes Music Store. Napster currently offers a free 512MB digital music player, or a 1GB one for $50 to users who sign up for its monthly service for three months. It also started an advertising-supported music service in May that allows users to listen more than two million songs at no charge, up to five times each. The company reported a net loss of $9.8 millionÂ in the three months ending June 30, on revenue of $28.1 million.
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Shawn Fanning, once reviled by record labels as the creator of renegade song-swap service Napster, on Thursday launched a new service designed to turn the threat of still popular peer-to-peer services into an opportunity for music companies and artists.
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The web portal is reportedly in talks with major record labels to begin selling or even giving away unprotected music files.
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Attention all top-flank recording artists: One of music&#39;s top-flank producers needs a little help for a great cause; he wants to make history - again.
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Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman isn't singing the same tune as Apple Inc. Steve Jobs when it comes to protecting digital music. Jobs wants to end digital rights management; Bronfman flat out rejected the idea yesterday.
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For many of us, it seems like a long time since the battle of the bands was waged on the front pages of the media. It started with Napster, an illegal file sharing service that made it possible
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NEW YORK - Shawn Fanning, the man who founded file-swapping service Napster as a student five years ago, has resurfaced in the digital music world, with a new company that aims to bridge the divide between music labels and peer-to-peer networks.
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The guy who created Winamp, unleashed Gnutella on the world and quit AOL after clashing with his corporate overlords is still chasing the music. Commentary by Eliot Van Buskirk.
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Napster creator Shawn Fanning, who turned the music industry on its head with his file trading technology, has re-emerged with a new company that hopes to facilitate agreements between peer-to-peer services and the record companies, making it easier for
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Some Napster users could soon find that the only way to keep playing is to keep paying.