To date, I don't think we've ever seen something on the internet as destructive to the cultural industries as Napster was in 1999 (although AI is threatening that now!). By coincidence, 1999 was when David Bowie became the first major artist to sell an album online as a digital download. The two storylines — Napster and Bowie's Hours — became entwined in intriguing ways. https://cybercultural.com/p/napster-1999/ #InternetHistory #Napster #Bowie
napster
This week on Cybercultural, let's re-live the Year of Napster: Shawn Fanning wearing a Metallica shirt to the 2000 MTV Awards, Lars Ulrich testifying to Senate and whining to the media (but in retrospect, was he right after all?!), Judge Patel calling Napster a monster, the media dreaming of a "heavenly jukebox", and — amid it all — a new legal alternative quietly emerges: SoundJam (soon to be known as iTunes). https://cybercultural.com/p/napster-itunes-2000/ #InternetHistory #Napster #iTunes