June 1, 2009 marks the 10th birthday of the original Napster. Back in 1999, the music industry was having what could be called a record year, flush with multi-million selling discs from *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears. Into that world, Shawn Fanning released his first and only software product – a little application for music file sharing among students and friends. to be called Napster, and for the first time ever, all the world’s music was yours at the stroke of a few keys.
10 years later, the music business has not, nor will it ever recover. File sharing, while illegal outside of fair use, has accelerated in spite of educational campaigns, lawsuits and legal content distribution technologies that exceed the simple application abilities of file sharing through programmatic benefits. But a succession of Napster followers – iMesh (now legal), Bearshare (now also legal), Morpheus, Music CIty, Grokster, eDonkey, Kazaa, and Pirate Bay, continue to satisfy the herd’s appetite for media content, while ubiquitous broadband and cheap storage has added short and longform video to the menu.
In breaking down the distribution barriers, Napster allowed music fans to renew their passion for music. They became again the hunter/gatherers they once were – looking for that rare live recording, the highest bitrate version, filling in the gaps in a new medium, an emerging digital collection. Overnight, content moved online, physical media’s demise was foreshadowed, as the notion of a “download” became an acceptable means of acquiring files – media or otherwise.
Ultimately, Napster accelerated what was an inevitable outcome of the confluence of content and technology. Plain and simple. Now only existent as an online brand, will anyone talk about the original Napster in another decade – probably not – but 10 years on is recent enough to recall (with some amusement) the images of Metallica’s Lars Ulrich testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Happy 10th Napster!
