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: Metallica sticks to their guns with the Napster lawsuit and debate the issue on U.S. television


5-13-00 1:35 PM PST antiGUY
Despite Napster giving in to Metallica's request to ban over 300,000 users of their software, Metallica still plans to go ahead with their lawsuit against the California company. 

Last week Napster cancelled the accounts of over 300,000 users identified by Metallica as having illegally traded the band's music via the Napster software. 

According to MTV.com news the lawsuit still stands. This isn't the end of Napster's legal problems. A U.S. District Judge in San Francisco ruled that Napster could be held liable for copyright infringement in a hearing on the lawsuit brought against the company by the RIAA. 

Napster contends that their software is "a mere conduit" between fans allowing them to trade their favorite music files. Therefor they are not liable, because they do not actually server any MP3 files. The Judge didn't buy it and Napster believes the case will go to court. 

Napster still contends that they have a defensible position. They refer to the case brought before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the Betamax machines (Video recorder). In that case the court ruled that the public has the right to new technology. 

RIAA said in a statement, "Napster lost its last delaying tactic. The court's decision is the first step in responding to those artists."

Another battle in this ongoing war was fought on U.S. public television Friday night. Lars Ulrich of Metallica debated rap legend Chuck D. on the Napster issue during the Charlie Rose television program. 

Lars stated, "In essence it's about control. It's really about controlling what you own. We clearly own our own songs. We own the master recordings to those and we want to be the ones who control the use of those on the Internet." He contends that artist have the right to decide how their work is distributed. He said that the lawsuit was about control of their music, not about money. Referring to the money lost because of MP3's he said that is was "pocket change". That larger issue at hand is people's belief that it is ok to steal the intellectual property of others. Lars explains, "Part of what we are trying to do here is make people understand that what they are doing is Illegal, I'm not even going to get into the moral issue." 

Chuck D embraces Napster and the technology of MP3's. He said that he "looks at Napster as being a version of new radio�. With all due respect to Lars and Metallica, they have an issue where they own their master and they control their realm and they want to talk about control of their realm. Which is warranted and granted, indeed. But they are the exception to the rule." Chuck D Argues that "� the music business has been the ones in control of the artist destiny. Throwing them in, throwing them out. Right now this war goes beyond their heads. This is like the power goes back to the people. Because the industry has over the past 15 or 16 years, has been accountant and lawyer driven and it hasn't been about the artistry. " 

Chuck D like many Napster defenders believe that the new technology will give back control to the artist over their music.  Chuck foresees in two years that there will be a million artists and a million startup labels distributing new music on the net. Lars does not dispute the issue that the Internet has been a great vehicle for new artist to get their music into the hands of listeners. They got their break from fans trading tapes of their music. However, at stake here is an established artist not wanting to participate in this free exchange of music files. With the current Napster system and other venues for MP3's where fans can discover new artist, there are no controls in place to keep those same fans from trading music that other artist don't want distributed over the internet. "� for artist that want to use Napster as a vehicle to get out there, I have no problem with that. In the same way I don't want people to have a problem with me not wanting to use Napster as a vehicle." Stated Lars during the debate. 

This is a hot issue and people on both sides of this debate have valid concerns.  MP3's are not going to go away but this debate may shape the future of how music is distributed online.  

To further this discussion, because an open debate on the issues involved here is healthy, we have created a special message board for you, the fans, to post your thoughts on this controversial subject.  Click here to post your comments and read the comments of other fans.
 

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