Software:Napster

From HandWiki
Napster
Napster running under Windows around July 2000
Developer(s)Shawn Fanning
Sean Parker
Initial releaseJune 1, 1999; 27 years ago (1999-06-01)
Final release
September 3, 2002; 24 years ago (2002-09-03)
Operating systemCross-platform
Available inMultilingual
TypeMedia player
LicenseProprietary

Napster was a proprietary peer-to-peer file sharing application primarily associated with the distribution of digital audio files such as MP3s. It was launched in June 1999 by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. Due to lawsuits alleging copyright infringement, Napster was shut down in July 2001 and filed for bankruptcy in June 2002.[1]

Napster's intellectual property was acquired by Roxio for $5.3 million in November 2002 and it was relaunched under a subscription business model. In September 2008, Napster was purchased by Best Buy for $121 million. It was sold to Rhapsody in December 2011.[2] In 2016, Rhapsody was renamed Napster. In 2022, Napster was acquired by two Web3 companies, Hivemind and Algorand.[3] In March 2025, Napster was sold to Infinite Reality.[4] In 2026, it was relaunched as an artificial intelligence tool.

History

Napster was launched in June 1999 by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. Its name was inspired by Fanning's high school nickname "Nappy" based on his curled, nappy hair.[5]

Unlike other peer-to-peer file sharing networks such as IRC, Hotline, and Usenet, Napster specialized in MP3 files, had a user-friendly interface, and had songs that were difficult to obtain, such as older songs, unreleased recordings, studio recordings, and songs from concert bootleg recordings.

Networks in college dormitories became overloaded, with as much as 61% of external network traffic consisting of MP3 file transfers.[6] Many colleges blocked its use for this reason, even before concerns about liability for facilitating copyright violations on campus.[7]

Macintosh version

Napster was first launched only for Windows. However, in December 1999, Black Hole Media released a client for the Mac called Macster. Napster acquired Macster and renamed it Napster for the Mac, making it the official Mac Napster client. There were previously other Napster clients for the Mac including MacStar and Rapster.[8]

In December 1999, A&M Records along with several other recording companies, through the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), sued Napster (A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.) on grounds of contributory and vicarious copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).[9][10]

A demo of Metallica's song "I Disappear" circulated on Napster before the song was officially released and it received radio airplay.[11] In April 2000, the lawsuit Metallica v. Napster, Inc. was filed. The band said it identified 335,000 individuals who were allegedly sharing the band’s songs online in violation of copyright laws. The band's attorney's delivered close to 60,000 pages to Napster showing the violations.[12]

A month later, Dr. Dre, who shared a litigator and legal firm with Metallica, filed a similar lawsuit after Napster refused his written request to remove his works from its service.[13]

In June 2000, Madonna's single "Music" was leaked onto Napster prior to its commercial release.[14]

In July 2000, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issued a preliminary injunction requiring Napster to block the sharing of copyrighted music.[15] Napster appealed, and two days later, a panel of judges from the Ninth Circuit issued an emergency stay, pending an appellate hearing.[16]

Some artists supported Napster. In October 2000, Radiohead's album Kid A was leaked on Napster three weeks before the album's official release. The album became the first entry for the band on a U.S. chart and its leak on Napster is credited with spurring sales.[17] Other artists who supported Napster included independent artists such as DJ Xealot,[18] Chuck D from Public Enemy,[19] and Dave Matthews, who, in January 2001, authorized the leaking of his singles onto the platform.[20][21]

File:Napster Unique Users.svg Verified Napster use peaked with 26.4 million users worldwide in February 2001;[22] however, some unofficial estimates cited a peak of 80 million registered users.[23]

Also in February 2001, Napster offered the record labels a settlement of $1 billion over the next five years, funded by a potential relaunch with a subscription business model.[24][25] The offer was dismissed.[26]

Also that month, in the case of A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., the District Court issued a ruling requiring the lower court to fashion an injunction forcing Napster to stop allowing the sharing of copyrighted works but respecting Napster's technological limits to police activity on its site.[16][27]

Napster formally petitioned the court for an en banc review by an expanded panel of 11 judges. The appeals court turned down the request, leading to the injunction.[28]

The injunction commanded Napster to keep track of the activities of its network and to restrict access to infringing material when informed of that material's location. The P2P model employed by Napster involved an integral centralized database, hosted by Napster, that indexed a complete list of all songs being shared from connected clients.

Also in July 2001, Napster settled the lawsuits from Metallica and Dr. Dre.[29][30][13]

Shutdown

In early July 2001, Napster shut down its entire network due to the injunction. In mid-July, after Napster agreed to block all but a tiny fraction of unauthorized song-swapping, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily overturned the injunction and allowed Napster to resume operations; however, the service was not restarted.[31][32]

Following the shut down, alternative decentralized methods of P2P file-sharing emerged, including Gnutella, Freenet, FastTrack, I2P, and BitTorrent.[33][34]

In September 2001, Napster agreed to pay music creators and copyright owners a $26 million settlement for past, unauthorized uses of music, and as an advance against future licensing royalties of $10 million. To pay those fees, Napster attempted to convert its free service into a subscription business model using the ".nap" secure file format from PlayMedia Systems and audio fingerprinting technology licensed from Relatable.[35] However, Napster was unable to obtain licenses to distribute music from major record labels.

In May 2002, Napster signed an agreement to sell its assets to Bertelsmann for $85 million, which would relaunch Napster under a subscription business model.[36] The two companies had been collaborating since October 2000 when Bertelsmann became the first major label to drop its copyright lawsuit against Napster.[37] Pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement, in June 2002 Napster filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code.

In September 2002, a bankruptcy judge blocked the sale to Bertelsmann because he ruled the deal was tainted by a conflict of interest. Napster's CEO, Konrad Hilbers, was a former high-ranking executive for Bertelsmann who maintained divided loyalties during the buyout negotiation.[38][39][40]

Napster then appointed a Chapter 11 trustee to sell off remaining assets through an auction process, avoiding a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.[41]

In an article published in Rolling Stone in 2018, Kirk Hammett of Metallica upheld the band's opinion that suing Napster was the "right" thing to do.[42]

Reiterations

In November 2002, Napster's brand and logos were acquired at a bankruptcy auction by Roxio for $5.3 million.[43][44][45] Roxio acquired PressPlay in May 2003 from Vivendi Universal and Sony for $40 million.[46] At the time, Pressplay had licenses for more than 250,000 tracks from the five major labels and several independent labels.[47] After integrating the services, Roxio launched a revamped Napster in October 2003, whereby users were able to download songs a-la-carte or pay for a monthly unlimited download and streaming media service.[48][49] Users were also able to share playlists and browse other users' libraries.[50] Upon its launch, the service had licenses for 500,000 songs.[51]

Also in October 2003, Roxio partnered with Samsung to create a Napster-branded Samsung YEPP portable media player for MP3s powered by a lithium-polymer battery. It used a special version of Napster software and drivers to transfer DRM-protected files to the built-in hard disk.[52]

In May 2006, Napster launched Free Napster, a free, advertising-supported Web-based music player that enabled users to stream full-length versions of all the songs in Napster's catalog of over 8 million tracks three times each, without downloading any software or making any service commitment.[53][54] Visitors could also purchase DRM-free MP3 downloads. It was discontinued in March 2010.[55]

In September 2008, after introducing its Insignia line of portable media players, Best Buy acquired Napster for $121 million.[56][57][58] At that time, Napster was incurring significant losses due to new competition and had approximately 760,000 subscribers.[59][60] In January 2010, after losing subscribers, the CEO position, held by Chris Gorog, was eliminated.[61]

In December 2011, Napster was sold to Rhapsody, with Best Buy receiving a minority stake in Rhapsody.[62][63][64] Rhapsody was created and launched by Listen.com in December 2001 as the first streaming on-demand music subscription service to offer unlimited access to a large library of digital music for a flat monthly fee, using technology from its acquisition of TuneTo.com in April 2001.[65][66] RealNetworks acquired Listen.com in August 2003[67] and completed the corporate spin-off of the company in April 2010.[68] By March 2011, it had 750,000 subsribers.[69]

In July 2016, Rhapsody phased out the Rhapsody brand and changed the name of its streaming service to Napster.[70][71][72][73]

In August 2020, Napster was sold to virtual reality concerts company MelodyVR.[74]

In May 2022, Napster was sold to Hivemind and Algorand, with investment from private equity firms.[75]

In March 2025, Napster was sold for $207 million to Infinite Reality, a technology and entertainment company specializing on digital media and artificial intelligence.[4][76]

In January 2026, the Napster music streaming service was shut down and relaunched an artificial intelligence tool. Record labels and artists claimed they were still owed royalties from the streaming service.[77]

  • Books that document the experiences of people working at Napster include:
    • All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster (2003) by Joseph Menn[78]
    • Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3, and the New Pioneers of Music (2001) by John Alderman[79]
    • Appetite for Self Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age (2009) by Steve Knopper[80]
  • The Italian Job (2003) features Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning in a cameo as himself. This gave credence to one character's fictional back-story as the original "Napster".[81]
  • The South Park episode "Christian Rock Hard" (2003) satirizes the law suits against Napster.
  • The Social Network (2010) features Napster co-founder Sean Parker, played by Justin Timberlake, in the rise of Facebook.[82]
  • Downloaded (2013) is a documentary about sharing media on the Internet and includes the history of Napster.
  • How Music Got Free (2024), a documentary based on the non-fiction book How Music Got Free mentions file sharing on the Internet with mentions of Napster and other applications.

See also

Further reading

  • Abramson, Bruce (2005). Digital Phoenix; Why the Information Economy Collapsed and How it Will Rise Again. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-51196-4. https://archive.org/details/digitalphoenixwh00abra. 
  • Carlsson, Bengt; Gustavsson, Rune (2001). "The Rise and Fall of Napster – An Evolutionary Approach". Proceedings of the 6th International Computer Science Conference on Active Media Technology. 
  • Giesler, Markus; Pohlmann, Mali (2003). "The Social Form of Napster: Cultivating the Paradox of Consumer Emancipation". Advances in Consumer Research. 
  • Giesler, Markus; Pohlmann, Mali (2003). "The Anthropology of File Sharing: Consuming Napster as a Gift". Advances in Consumer Research. 
  • Giesler, Markus (2006). "Consumer Gift Systems". Journal of Consumer Research 33 (2): 283–290. doi:10.1086/506309. 
  • Green, Matthew (2002). "Napster Opens Pandora's Box: Examining How File-Sharing Services Threaten the Enforcement of Copyright on the Internet". Ohio State Law Journal 63: 799. 
  • Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu, Who Controls the Internet?, chapter: "The File Sharing Movement", Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 105–125. ISBN 978-0-19-515266-1
  • Ku, Raymond Shih Ray (2001). "The Creative Destruction of Copyright: Napster and the New Economics of Digital Technology". University of Chicago Law Review. doi:10.2139/ssrn.266964. https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5128&context=uclrev. 
  • Lessig, Lawrence (2004). Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-303465-0. https://archive.org/details/free_culture. 
  • McCourt, Tom; Burkart, Patrick (2003). "When Creators, Corporations and Consumers Collide: Napster and the Development of On-line Music Distribution". Media, Culture & Society 25 (3): 333–350. doi:10.1177/0163443703025003003. 
  • Menn, Joseph (2003). All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-609-61093-0. https://archive.org/details/allraverisefallo00menn. 
  • Orbach, Barak (2008). "Indirect Free Riding on the Wheels of Commerce: Dual-Use Technologies and Copyright Liability". Emory Law Journal 57: 409–461. 

References

  1. ↑ "Napster's High and Low Notes". Bloomberg News. August 14, 2000. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2000-08-14/napsters-high-and-low-notes. 
  2. ↑ Sisario, Ben (October 3, 2011). "Rhapsody to Acquire Napster in Deal With Best Buy". The New York Times. https://archive.nytimes.com/mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/rhapsody-to-acquire-napster-in-deal-with-best-buy/. 
  3. ↑ Vincent, James (May 18, 2022). "Napster joins Limewire and Winamp by jumping on the web3 bandwagon". The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/18/23122179/napster-web3-bought-hivemind-algorand. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Infinite Reality Acquires Iconic Music Service Napster" (Press release). Infinite Reality. March 25, 2025.
  5. ↑ Lamont, Tom (February 24, 2013). "Napster: the day the music was set free". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/feb/24/napster-music-free-file-sharing. 
  6. ↑ Saavedra, David (April 19, 2025). "When Metallica took on Napster: 25 years of the trial that changed the music industry forever". El Pais. https://english.elpais.com/culture/2025-04-19/when-metallica-took-on-napster-25-years-of-the-trial-that-changed-the-music-industry-forever.html. 
  7. ↑ Anderson, Kevin (September 26, 2000). "Napster expelled by universities". BBC News. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/942090.stm. 
  8. ↑ "Official Napster Client For Mac OS, OS X". The Mac Observer. https://www.macobserver.com/article/2000/10/25.2.shtml. 
  9. ↑ "A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 114 F. Supp. 2d 896 (N.D. Cal. 2000)". https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/114/896/2343353/. 
  10. ↑ "Copyright and Peer-To-Peer Music File Sharing: The Napster Case and the Argument Against Legislative Reform". http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v11n1/douglas111.html. 
  11. ↑ "When Metallica took on Napster: 25 years of the trial that changed the music industry forever". El Pais. April 19, 2025. https://english.elpais.com/culture/2025-04-19/when-metallica-took-on-napster-25-years-of-the-trial-that-changed-the-music-industry-forever.html. 
  12. ↑ Borland, John (May 2, 2000). "Metallica fingers 335,435 Napster users". CNET. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/metallica-fingers-335435-napster-users/. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Metallica, Dr. Dre Settle Napster Lawsuits". Billboard. July 12, 2001. https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/metallica-dr-dre-settle-napster-lawsuits-79142/. 
  14. ↑ Borland, John (June 1, 2000). "Unreleased Madonna Single Slips On To Net". CNET. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/unreleased-madonna-single-slips-onto-net/. 
  15. ↑ Ohlson, Kathleen (September 15, 2000). "Napster fires last written shot in court case". CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/09/15/napster.shot.idg/index.html. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Richtel, Matt (February 13, 2001). "Napster Suffers Setback in Appeals Court Ruling". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/13/technology/napster-suffers-setback-in-appeals-court-ruling.html. 
  17. ↑ Allen, Jamie (October 24, 2000). "The benefits of giving away music". CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/24/online.music/. 
  18. ↑ "Case Nos. C 99-5183 and C 00-0074 MHP (ADR)". FindLaw.com. https://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/napster/napster/dec_xeal.pdf. 
  19. ↑ Chuck D (May 2, 2000). "IN D-FENCE OF NAPSTER". NME. https://www.nme.com/news/music/public-enemy-67-1395376. 
  20. ↑ Uhelszki, Jaan (January 12, 2001). "Dave Matthews Does Napster". Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dave-matthews-does-napster-63122/. 
  21. ↑ Benitez-Eves, Tina (January 3, 2024). "On This Day: Dave Matthews Band Becomes First Artist to Release a Song on Napster". American Songwriter. https://americansongwriter.com/on-this-day-dave-matthews-band-becomes-first-artist-to-release-a-song-on-napster/. 
  22. ↑ Forde, Eamonn (May 31, 2019). "Oversharing: how Napster nearly killed the music industry". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/31/napster-twenty-years-music-revolution. 
  23. ↑ Gowan, Michael (May 18, 2022). "Requiem for Napster". Pc World. https://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/22380/requiem_napster/. 
  24. ↑ "Napster Offers Record Labels $1-Billion Deal". Los Angeles Times. February 21, 2001. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-feb-21-fi-28171-story.html. 
  25. ↑ "Napster Offers Labels $1 Billion Settlement Deal". Billboard. February 21, 2001. https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/napster-offers-labels-1-billion-settlement-deal-80553/. 
  26. ↑ "Record labels dismiss $1 billion Napster offer". Pinsent Masons. February 22, 2001. https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/record-labels-dismiss-1-billion-napster-offer. 
  27. ↑ "Text of the Napster ruling". The New York Times. February 12, 2001. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/12/technology/text-of-the-napster-ruling.html. 
  28. ↑ "Napster’s Latest Legal Blow: Appeal Rejected". Billboard. June 26, 2001. https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/napsters-latest-legal-blow-appeal-rejected-79305/. 
  29. ↑ Britt, Russ (July 12, 2001). "Napster settles with Dr. Dre, Metallica". MarketWatch. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/napster-settles-with-dr-dre-metallica. 
  30. ↑ "Napster settles Metallica lawsuit". BBC News. July 13, 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1436796.stm. 
  31. ↑ "Napster can go back online". BBC News. July 19, 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1446441.stm. 
  32. ↑ "Appeal Court says Napster can go live again". The Register. July 19, 2001. https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/2001/07/19/appeal-court-says-napster-can-go-live-again/1433719. 
  33. ↑ "The Day the Napster Died". Wired. May 15, 2002. https://www.wired.com/2002/05/the-day-the-napster-died/. 
  34. ↑ "Napster 'successors' emerge". BBC News. October 10, 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1591597.stm. 
  35. ↑ "Napster to ditch MP3 for proprietary format". The Register. https://www.theregister.com/2001/07/23/napster_to_ditch_mp3/. 
  36. ↑ Hu, Jim. "Bertelsmann to buy Napster for a song". CNET. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/bertelsmann-to-buy-napster-for-a-song/. 
  37. ↑ Teather, David (November 1, 2000). "Napster wins a new friend". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2000/nov/01/internetnews.business. 
  38. ↑ Evangelista, Benny (September 4, 2002). "Napster runs out of lives – judge rules against sale". SFGate. https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/napster-runs-out-of-lives-judge-rules-against-2774278.php. 
  39. ↑ "Napster Sale Blocked". CBS News. September 3, 2002. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/napster-sale-blocked/. 
  40. ↑ "Napster dies as judge blocks sale to Bertelsmann". Pinsent Masons. September 4, 2002. https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/napster-dies-as-judge-blocks-sale-to-bertelsmann. 
  41. ↑ "Mystery buyer means Napster will avoid liquidation". Australian Financial Review. Dow Jones Newswires. September 30, 2002. https://www.afr.com/politics/mystery-buyer-means-napster-will-avoid-liquidation-20020930-k1u2f. 
  42. ↑ Reed, Ryan (May 14, 2018). "Metallica's Kirk Hammett: 'We're Still Right' About Suing Napster". Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/metallicas-kirk-hammett-were-still-right-about-suing-napster-630185/. 
  43. ↑ "Roxio To Acquire Napster Assets". Billboard. November 15, 2002. https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/roxio-to-acquire-napster-assets-73438/. 
  44. ↑ Menn, Joseph (November 28, 2002). "Roxio Completes Purchase of Napster System". Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-nov-28-fi-napster28-story.html. 
  45. ↑ Oppelaar, Justin (November 15, 2002). "Roxio bids $5.3 mil for Napster". Variety. https://variety.com/2002/digital/news/roxio-bids-5-3-mil-for-napster-1117876140/. 
  46. ↑ "Roxio Buys Pressplay, Napster Lives". Wired. May 19, 2003. https://www.wired.com/2003/05/roxio-buys-pressplay-napster-lives/. 
  47. ↑ Oppelaar, Justin (May 19, 2003). "Napster goes legit". Variety. https://variety.com/2003/digital/markets-festivals/napster-goes-legit-1117886517/. 
  48. ↑ "Roxio Sets Date for Napster Launch". The Wall Street Journal. October 9, 2003. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10657189516375100. 
  49. ↑ "Roxio Reveals Details Of Retooled Napster". Billboard. October 10, 2003. https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/roxio-reveals-details-of-retooled-napster-68716/. 
  50. ↑ Viksnins, Rebecca (October 9, 2003). "Napster 2.0". CNET. https://www.cnet.com/reviews/napster-2-0-preview/. 
  51. ↑ "Napster Returns -- Not Free but Legal". Los Angeles Times. October 10, 2003. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-oct-10-fi-napster10-story.html. 
  52. ↑ Wiley, M. (October 9, 2003). "Samsung Napster YP-910GS". IGN. https://www.ign.com/articles/2003/10/09/samsung-napster-yp-910gs. 
  53. ↑ "Napster Available For Download". Forbes. September 19, 2006. https://www.forbes.com/2006/09/19/napster-ubs-sale-tech-media-cx_rr_0919napster.html. 
  54. ↑ Chmielewski, Dawn (September 19, 2006). "Napster Hires UBS to Explore a Possible Sale". Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-sep-19-fi-napster19-story.html. 
  55. ↑ Greenfield, Rebecca (December 1, 2011). "Napster's Seven Lives Are Finished". The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/12/napsters-seven-lives-are-finished/334838/. 
  56. ↑ Skillings, Jon (September 15, 2008). "Best Buy nabs Napster for $121 million". CNET. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/best-buy-nabs-napster-for-121-million/. 
  57. ↑ Adegoke, Yinka; Jacobs, Karen (September 15, 2008). "Best Buy to buy Napster for $121 million". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/best-buy-to-buy-napster-for-121-million-idUSN15503088/. 
  58. ↑ Bond, Paul (September 15, 2008). "Best Buy to acquire Napster for $121 m". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/best-buy-acquire-napster-121-119191/. 
  59. ↑ "Best Buy To Acquire Napster". TechCrunch. September 15, 2008. https://techcrunch.com/2008/09/15/best-buy-to-acquire-napster/. 
  60. ↑ HANSELL, SAUL (September 15, 2008). "Best Buy Bails Out Failing Napster". The New York Times. https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/best-buy-bails-out-failing-napster/. 
  61. ↑ Paczkowski, John (January 6, 2010). "Former Napster CEO's "Dream" More of a Nightmare When You Really Think About It". All Things D. https://allthingsd.com/20100106/former-napster-ceo%E2%80%99s-dream-more-of-a-nightmare-when-you-really-think-about-it/. 
  62. ↑ Musil, Steven (December 2, 2011). "RIP Napster–again". CNET. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/rip-napster-again/. 
  63. ↑ Morris, Chris (October 3, 2011). "Rhapsody buys Napster". Variety. https://variety.com/2011/music/news/rhapsody-buys-napster-1118043798/. 
  64. ↑ Pelly, Jenn (December 1, 2011). "Napster Is Finished, For Real This Time". Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/news/44784-napster-is-finished-for-real-this-time/. 
  65. ↑ Borland, John (April 5, 2001). "Listen.com buys streaming technology". CNET. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/listen-com-buys-streaming-technology/. 
  66. ↑ Evangelist, Benny (July 1, 2002). "Industry starting to endorse Net music / Listen.com to offer songs from all five major labels". San Francisco Chronicle. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/industry-starting-to-endorse-net-music-2801248.php. 
  67. ↑ "Musical Chairs With the Big Boys". Star-News. March 21, 2004. https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/news/2004/03/21/musical-chairs-with-the-big-boys/30543807007/. 
  68. ↑ Savitz, Eric (April 6, 2010). "RealNetworks Completes Rhapsody Spin; Now $10/Month". Barron's. https://www.barrons.com/articles/BL-TB-22862. 
  69. ↑ "Rhapsody Offers 60-Day Trial Ahead Of Rumored Spotify U.S. Launch". Business Insider. March 1, 2011. https://www.businessinsider.com/rhapsody-offers-60-day-trial-ahead-of-rumored-spotify-us-launch-2011-3. 
  70. ↑ Bishop, Todd (June 14, 2016). "Rhapsody will rebrand as Napster, creating 'one global brand' for longtime music service". GeekWire. https://www.geekwire.com/2016/rhapsody-rebrand-napster-u-s-creating-new-global-brand-longtime-music-service/. 
  71. ↑ Roettgers, Janko (June 14, 2016). "Napster Is Back as Rhapsody Rebrands Its Streaming Service". Variety. https://variety.com/2016/digital/news/rhapsody-napster-rebrand-1201795439/. 
  72. ↑ "Napster is coming back as a streaming service". NME. June 15, 2016. https://www.nme.com/news/music/various-artists-215-1199862. 
  73. ↑ Haggin, Patience (June 15, 2016). "Rhapsody Rebrands as Napster". The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/rhapsody-rebrands-as-napster-1466035103. 
  74. ↑ Schneider, Marc (August 25, 2020). "Napster Sold to Virtual Reality Concert App MelodyVR for $70 Million". Billboard. https://www.billboard.com/pro/napster-melodyvr-sale-price-details/. 
  75. ↑ "Hivemind & Algorand Announce the Acquisition of Napster". Digital Music News. May 10, 2022. https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2022/05/10/hivemind-algorand-napster-acquisition/. 
  76. ↑ King, Ashley (November 25, 2025). "Napster's $3 Billion Funding Round Goes Poof—CEO Blames 'Misconduct' As Future of Streaming Platform Thrown Into Doubt". Digital Music News. https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2025/11/25/napster-three-billion-funding-round-poof/. 
  77. ↑ King, Ashley (January 2, 2026). "Napster Music Streaming Service Abruptly Shuts Down in Pivot to AI—'Napster is No Longer a Music Streaming Service'". Digital Music News. https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2026/01/02/napster-music-streaming-shut-down-ai-pivot/. 
  78. ↑ Menn, Joseph (2003). All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 0-609-61093-7. https://books.google.com/books/about/All_the_Rave.html?id=vz4UAQAAIAAJ. 
  79. ↑ Alderman, John (August 8, 2001). Sonic boom: Napster, MP3, and the new pioneers of music. Perseus Books Group. ISBN 978-0-7382-0405-5. https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780738204055. 
  80. ↑ "Appetite for Self Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age". CreateSpace. https://archive.org/details/appetiteforselfd0000stev. 
  81. ↑ "Information Security News: Napster founder has cameo role in 'Italian Job'". https://seclists.org/isn/2003/Jun/46. 
  82. ↑ Kirkpatrick, David (October 2010). "With a Little Help From His Friends". Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/10/sean-parker-201010. 
Short description: Practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information
Part of a series on
File sharing
Technologies
Video sharing sites
BitTorrent sites
Academic/scholarly
File sharing networks
P2P clients
Streaming programs
Anonymous file sharing
Development and societal aspects
By country or region
Comparisons

File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include removable media, centralized servers on computer networks, Internet-based hyperlinked documents, and the use of distributed peer-to-peer networking.

File sharing technologies, such as BitTorrent, are integral to modern media piracy, as well as the sharing of scientific data and other free content.

History

For a chronological guide to this subject, see Timeline of Napster.

Files were first exchanged on removable media. Computers were able to access remote files using filesystem mounting, bulletin board systems (1978), Usenet (1979), and FTP servers (1970's). Internet Relay Chat (1988) and Hotline (1997) enabled users to communicate remotely through chat and to exchange files. The mp3 encoding, which was standardized in 1991 and substantially reduced the size of audio files, grew to widespread use in the late 1990s. In 1998, MP3.com and Audiogalaxy were established, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was unanimously passed, and the first mp3 player devices were launched.[1]

In June 1999, Napster was released as an unstructured centralized peer-to-peer system,[2] requiring a central server for indexing and peer discovery. It is generally credited as being the first peer-to-peer file sharing system. In December 1999, Napster was sued by several recording companies and lost in A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc..[3] In the case of Napster, it has been ruled that an online service provider could not use the "transitory network transmission" safe harbor in the DMCA if they had control of the network with a server.[4]

Gnutella, eDonkey2000, and Freenet were released in 2000, as MP3.com and Napster were facing litigation. Gnutella, released in March, was the first decentralized file-sharing network. In the Gnutella network, all connecting software was considered equal, and therefore the network had no central point of failure. In July, Freenet was released and became the first anonymity network. In September the eDonkey2000 client and server software was released.[citation needed]

In March 2001, Kazaa was released. Its FastTrack network was distributed, though, unlike Gnutella, it assigned more traffic to 'supernodes' to increase routing efficiency. The network was proprietary and encrypted, and the Kazaa team made substantial efforts to keep other clients such as Morpheus off of the FastTrack network.[citation needed] In October 2001, the MPAA and the RIAA filed a lawsuit against the developers of Kazaa, Morpheus and Grokster[5][6] that would lead to the US Supreme Court's MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. decision in 2005.

Shortly after its loss in court, Napster was shut down to comply with a court order. This drove users to other P2P applications and file sharing continued its growth.[7] The Audiogalaxy Satellite client grew in popularity, and the LimeWire client and BitTorrent protocol were released. Until its decline in 2004, Kazaa was the most popular file-sharing program despite bundled malware and legal battles in the Netherlands, Australia, and the United States. In 2002, a Tokyo district court ruling shut down File Rogue, and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed a lawsuit that effectively shut down Audiogalaxy.

Demonstrators protesting The Pirate Bay raid in 2006

From 2002 through 2003, a number of BitTorrent services were established, including Suprnova.org, isoHunt, TorrentSpy, and The Pirate Bay. In September 2003, the RIAA began filing lawsuits against users of P2P file sharing networks such as Kazaa.[8] As a result of such lawsuits, many universities added file sharing regulations in their school administrative codes (though some students managed to circumvent them during after school hours). Also in 2003, the MPAA started to take action against BitTorrent sites, leading to the shutdown of Torrentse and Sharelive in July 2003.[9] With the shutdown of eDonkey in 2005, eMule became the dominant client of the eDonkey network. In 2006, police raids took down the Razorback2 eDonkey server and temporarily took down The Pirate Bay.[10]

"The File Sharing Act was launched by Chairman Towns in 2009, this act prohibited the use of applications that allowed individuals to share federal information amongst one another. On the other hand, only specific file sharing applications were made available to federal computers" (the United States.Congress.House). In 2009, the Pirate Bay trial ended in a guilty verdict for the primary founders of the tracker. The decision was appealed, leading to a second guilty verdict in November 2010. In October 2010, Limewire was forced to shut down following a court order in Arista Records LLC v. Lime Group LLC but the Gnutella network remains active through open source clients like FrostWire and gtk-gnutella. Furthermore, multi-protocol file-sharing software such as MLDonkey and Shareaza adapted to support all the major file-sharing protocols, so users no longer had to install and configure multiple file-sharing programs.[citation needed]

On January 19, 2012, the United States Department of Justice shut down the popular domain of Megaupload (established 2005). The file sharing site has claimed to have over 50,000,000 people a day.[11] Kim Dotcom (formerly Kim Schmitz) was arrested with three associates in New Zealand on January 20, 2012 and is awaiting extradition.[12][13] The case involving the downfall of the world's largest and most popular file sharing site was not well received, with hacker group Anonymous bringing down several sites associated with the take-down.[11] In the following days, other file sharing sites began to cease services; FileSonic blocked public downloads on January 22,[14] with Fileserve following suit on January 23.[15]

In 2021 a European Citizens' Initiative "Freedom to Share" started collecting signatures in order to get the European Commission to discuss (and eventually make rules) on this subject, which is controversial.[16]

Techniques used for video sharing

From the early 2000s until the mid 2010s, online video streaming was usually based on the Adobe Flash Player. After more and more vulnerabilities in Adobe's flash became known, YouTube switched to HTML5 based video playback in January 2015.[17]

Types

Peer-to-peer file sharing

Peer-to-peer file sharing is based on the peer-to-peer (P2P) application architecture. Shared files on the computers of other users are indexed on directory servers. P2P technology was used by popular services like Napster and LimeWire. The most popular protocol for P2P sharing is BitTorrent.

File sync and sharing services

Screenshot of an open-source file-sharing software Shareaza

Cloud-based file syncing and sharing services implement automated file transfers by updating files from a dedicated sharing directory on each user's networked devices. Files placed in this folder also are typically accessible through a website and mobile app and can be easily shared with other users for viewing or collaboration. Such services have become popular via consumer-oriented file hosting services such as Dropbox and Google Drive. With the rising need of sharing big files online easily, new open access sharing platforms have appeared, adding even more services to their core business (cloud storage, multi-device synchronization, online collaboration), such as ShareFile, Tresorit, WeTransfer, or Hightail.

rsync is a more traditional program released in 1996 which synchronizes files on a direct machine-to-machine basis.

Data synchronization in general can use other approaches to share files, such as distributed file systems, version control, or mirrors.

Academic file sharing

In addition to file sharing for the purposes of entertainment, academic file sharing has become a topic of increasing concern,[18][19][20] as it is deemed to be a violation of academic integrity at many schools.[18][19][21] Academic file sharing by companies such as Chegg and Course Hero has become a point of particular controversy in recent years.[22] This has led some institutions to provide explicit guidance to students and faculty regarding academic integrity expectations relating to academic file sharing.[23][24]

Public opinion of file sharing

In 2004, there were an estimated 70 million people participating in online file sharing.[25] According to a CBS News poll in 2009, 58% of United States who follow the file-sharing issue, considered it acceptable "if a person owns the music CD and shares it with a limited number of friends and acquaintances"; with 18- to 29-year-olds, this percentage reached as much as 70%.[26]

In his survey of file-sharing culture, Caraway (2012) noted that 74.4% of participants believed musicians should accept file sharing as a means for promotion and distribution.[27] This file-sharing culture was termed as cyber socialism, whose legalisation was not the expected cyber-utopia.[clarification needed].[28][29]

Economic impact

According to David Glenn, writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, "A majority of economic studies have concluded that file-sharing hurts sales".[30] A literature review by Professor Peter Tschmuck found 22 independent studies on the effects of music file sharing. "Of these 22 studies, 14 – roughly two-thirds – conclude that unauthorized downloads have a 'negative or even highly negative impact' on recorded music sales. Three of the studies found no significant impact while the remaining five found a positive impact."[31][32]

A study by economists Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf in 2004 concluded that music file sharing's effect on sales was "statistically indistinguishable from zero".[33][34] This research was disputed by other economists, most notably Stan Liebowitz, who said Oberholzer-Gee and Strumpf had made multiple assumptions about the music industry "that are just not correct."[33][35] In June 2010, Billboard reported that Oberholzer-Gee and Strumpf had "changed their minds", now finding "no more than 20% of the recent decline in sales is due to sharing".[36] However, citing Nielsen SoundScan as their source, the co-authors maintained that illegal downloading had not deterred people from being original. "In many creative industries, monetary incentives play a reduced role in motivating authors to remain creative. Data on the supply of new works are consistent with the argument that file-sharing did not discourage authors and publishers. Since the advent of file sharing, the production of music, books, and movies has increased sharply."[37] Glenn Peoples of Billboard disputed the underlying data, saying "SoundScan's number for new releases in any given year represents new commercial titles, not necessarily new creative works."[38] The RIAA likewise responded that "new releases" and "new creative works" are two separate things. "[T]his figure includes re-releases, new compilations of existing songs, and new digital-only versions of catalog albums. SoundScan has also steadily increased the number of retailers (especially non-traditional retailers) in their sample over the years, better capturing the number of new releases brought to market. What Oberholzer and Strumpf found was better ability to track new album releases, not greater incentive to create them."[39]

A 2006 study prepared by Birgitte Andersen and Marion Frenz, published by Industry Canada, was "unable to discover any direct relationship between P2P file-sharing and CD purchases in Canada".[40] The results of this survey were similarly criticized by academics and a subsequent revaluation of the same data by George R. Barker of the Australian National University reached the opposite conclusion.[41] "In total, 75% of P2P downloaders responded that if P2P were not available they would have purchased either through paid sites only (9%), CDs only (17%) or through CDs and pay sites (49%). Only 25% of people say they would not have bought the music if it were not available on P2P for free." Barker thus concludes; "This clearly suggests P2P network availability is reducing music demand of 75% of music downloaders which is quite contrary to Andersen and Frenz's much published claim."[42]

According to the 2017 paper "Estimating displacement rates of copyrighted content in the EU" by the European Commission, illegal usage increases game sales, stating "The overall conclusion is that for games, illegal online transactions induce more legal transactions."[43]

Market dominance

A paper in the journal Management Science found that file-sharing decreased the chance of survival for low ranked albums on music charts and increased exposure to albums that were ranked high on the music charts, allowing popular and well-known artists to remain on the music charts more often. This hurt new and less-known artists while promoting the work of already popular artists and celebrities.[44]

A more recent study that examined pre-release file-sharing of music albums, using BitTorrent software, also discovered positive impacts for "established and popular artists but not newer and smaller artists." According to Robert G. Hammond of North Carolina State University, an album that leaked one month early would see a modest increase in sales. "This increase in sales is small relative to other factors that have been found to affect album sales."

"File-sharing proponents commonly argue that file-sharing democratizes music consumption by 'levelling the playing field' for new/small artists relative to established/popular artists, by allowing artists to have their work heard by a wider audience, lessening the advantage held by established/popular artists in terms of promotional and other support. My results suggest that the opposite is happening, which is consistent with evidence on file-sharing behaviour."[45]

Billboard cautioned that this research looked only at the pre-release period and not continuous file sharing following a release date. "The problem in believing piracy helps sales is deciding where to draw the line between legal and illegal ... Implicit in the study is the fact that both buyers and sellers are required in order for pre-release file sharing to have a positive impact on album sales. Without iTunes, Amazon, and Best Buy, file-sharers would be just file sharers rather than purchasers. If you carry out the 'file-sharing should be legal' argument to its logical conclusion, today's retailers will be tomorrow's file-sharing services that integrate with their respective cloud storage services."[46]

Availability

Many argue that file-sharing has forced the owners of entertainment content to make it more widely available legally through fees or advertising on-demand on the internet. In a 2011 report by Sandvine showed that Netflix traffic had come to surpass that of BitTorrent.[47]

Main article: Legal aspects of file sharing

File sharing raises copyright issues and has led to many lawsuits. In the United States , some of these lawsuits have even reached the Supreme Court. For example, in MGM v. Grokster, the Supreme Court ruled that the creators of P2P networks can be held liable if their software is marketed as a tool for copyright infringement.

On the other hand, not all file sharing is illegal. Content in the public domain can be freely shared. Even works covered by copyright can be shared under certain circumstances. For example, some artists, publishers, and record labels grant the public a license for unlimited distribution of certain works, sometimes with conditions, and they advocate free content and file sharing as a promotional tool.[48]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Adner, Ron (2012-03-05). "From Walkman to iPod: What Music Tech Teaches Us About Innovation" (in en). https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/from-walkman-to-ipod-what-music-tech-teaches-us-about-innovation/253158/. 
  2. ↑ Elser, Amy (March 25, 2005). Reliable distributed systems: technologies, Web services, and applications - Kenneth P. Birman - Google Books. Springer. ISBN 9780387215099. https://books.google.com/books?id=KeIENcC2BPwC&q=napster+first&pg=PA532. Retrieved January 20, 2012. 
  3. ↑ Menta, Richard (December 9, 1999). "RIAA Sues Music Startup Napster for $20 Billion". MP3 Newswire. http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/napster.html. 
  4. ↑ "EFF: What Peer-to-Peer Developers Need to Know about Copyright Law". W2.eff.org. http://w2.eff.org/IP/P2P/p2p_copyright_wp.php. 
  5. ↑ Woody, Todd (February 1, 2003). "The Race to Kill Kazaa". Wired. https://www.wired.com/2003/02/kazaa/. 
  6. ↑ Menta, Richard (October 3, 2001). "RIAA and MPAA sue Morpheus, Grokster and KaZaa". MP3 Newswire. http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2001/sue_morpheus.html. 
  7. ↑ Menta, Richard (July 20, 2001). "Napster Clones Crush Napster. Take 6 out of the Top 10 Downloads on CNet". MP3 Newswire. http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2001/topclones.html. 
  8. ↑ Dean, Katie (September 8, 2003). "RIAA Legal Landslide Begins". Wired. https://www.wired.com/2003/09/riaa-legal-landslide-begins/. Retrieved November 1, 2019. 
  9. ↑ Röttgers, Janko (July 26, 2003). "Bittorrent-Webseiten unter Druck" (in de). heise online. https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Bittorrent-Webseiten-unter-Druck-82795.html. 
  10. ↑ Motion Picture Association. "BELGIAN & SWISS AUTHORITIES BREAK RAZORBACK2: World’s Largest P2P Facilitator Put Out of Illegal Business". https://web.archive.org/web/20060415024031/http://www.mpaa.org/press_releases/2006_02_21_razer.pdf. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Mufson, Steven (January 20, 2012). "Department of Justice site hacked after Megaupload shutdown, Anonymous claims credit. Washington Post". Washingtonpost.com. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/department-of-justice-site-hacked-after-megaupload-shutdown-anonymous-claims-credit/2012/01/20/gIQAl5MNEQ_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop. 
  12. ↑ Schneider, Joe (January 24, 2012). "Megaupload's Dotcom in Custody as New Zealand Awaits Extradition Request, Bloomberg". Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-24/megaupload-s-dotcom-in-custody-as-new-zealand-awaits-extradition-request.html. 
  13. ↑ Leask, Anna (23 January 2012). "Dotcom in custody ahead of bail decision". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10780553. 
  14. ↑ Musil, Steven. "FileSonic disables file sharing in wake of MegaUpload arrests". CNET. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/filesonic-disables-file-sharing-in-wake-of-megaupload-arrests/. 
  15. ↑ Lanxon, Nate. "Filesonic, Fileserve pull file-sharing services following Megaupload arrests". Condé Nast Britain. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/filesonic-file-sharing-offline. 
  16. ↑ Ernesto Van der Sar (2020-12-17). ""Freedom to Share" Launches EU Citizens' Initiative to Legalize File-Sharing". https://torrentfreak.com/freedom-to-share-launches-eu-citizens-initiative-to-legalize-filesharing-201217/. 
  17. ↑ McCormick, Rich (2015-01-27). "YouTube drops Flash for HTML5 video as default" (in en). https://www.theverge.com/2015/1/27/7926001/youtube-drops-flash-for-html5-video-default. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Rogerson, A.M. (2014). Detecting the work of essay mills and file swapping sites: some clues they leave behind. Semantic Scholar. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Rogerson, A.M.; Basanta, G. (5 February 2016). "Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and Academic Integrity in the Internet Age". Handbook of Academic Integrity. Springer Nature. pp. 273–285. doi:10.1007/978-981-287-098-8_55. ISBN 978-981-287-098-8. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-287-098-8_55. Retrieved 13 December 2023. 
  20. ↑ Eaton, S.E. (12 July 2020). "Academic Integrity During COVID-19: Reflections From the University of Calgary". International Studies in Educational Administration (Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management) 48 (1): 80–85. https://prism.ucalgary.ca/items/3817c241-3d4b-433e-b424-e955e81c0b48. Retrieved 13 December 2023. 
  21. ↑ Butler, J. (15 April 2020). "Arts & Sciences investigates Physics 192 academic integrity breach". Washington University Student Media, Inc.. https://www.studlife.com/news/2020/04/15/arts-sciences-investigates-physics-192-academic-integrity-breach. 
  22. ↑ McKenzie, L. (13 May 2018). "Learning Tool or Cheating Aid?". Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/05/14/professors-warned-about-popular-learning-tool-used-students-cheat. 
  23. ↑ "Information for Faculty: Note-sharing sites". Sheridan College. https://sheridancollege.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=34999338. 
  24. ↑ "Copyright for Students". Sheridan College. 30 July 2023. https://sheridancollege.libguides.com/copyright_students/home. 
  25. ↑ Delgado, Ray (March 17, 2004). "Law professors examine ethical controversies of peer-to-peer file sharing". Stanford Report. Stanford University. http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2004/march17/fileshare-317.html. 
  26. ↑ "Poll: Young Say File Sharing OK". CBS News. February 11, 2009. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/18/opinion/polls/main573990.shtml. 
  27. ↑ Caraway, Brett Robert (2012). "Survey of File-Sharing Culture". USC Annenberg Press, Creative Commons license (by-nc-nd). http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/1216/720. 
  28. ↑ Filby, Michael (2011). "Regulating File Sharing: Open Regulations for an Open Internet". Journal of International Commercial Law and Technology 6: 207. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals%2Fjcolate6&div=24&id=&page=. Retrieved 28 December 2021. 
  29. ↑ Filby, Michael (1 January 2008). "Together in electric dreams: cyber socialism, utopia and the creative commons". International Journal of Private Law 1 (1–2): 94–109. doi:10.1504/IJPL.2008.019435. ISSN 1753-6235. https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJPL.2008.019435. Retrieved 28 December 2021. 
  30. ↑ Glenn, David (July 17, 2008). "Dispute Over the Economics of File Sharing Intensifies". The Chronicle of Higher Education (Washington, D. C.). https://www.chronicle.com/article/dispute-over-the-economics-of-file-sharing-intensifies-989/. 
  31. ↑ Hart, Terry. More Evidence for Copyright Protection , copyhype.com, February 1, 2012. "The literature review looked at a 23rd study but did not classify it here since the author presented a mixed conclusion: the overall effect of unauthorized downloads is insignificant, but for unknown artists, there is a 'strongly negative' effect on recorded music sales."
  32. ↑ AJ Sokolov, Daniel . Wissenschaftler: Studien über Tauschbörsen unbrauchbar , c't magazine, June 11, 2010.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Levine, Robert. Free Ride: How the Internet Is Destroying the Culture Business and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back, Bodley Head, February 2011, ISBN 1847921485.
  34. ↑ Oberholzer, Felix; Koleman Strumpf. "The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis". http://www.unc.edu/~cigar/papers/FileSharing_March2004.pdf. 
  35. ↑ Liebowitz, Stan J. (23 September 2007). "How Reliable is the Oberholzer-Gee and Strumpf Paper on File-Sharing?". Intellectual Property: Copyright Law eJournal (ResearchGate GmbH). doi:10.2139/ssrn.1014399. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228172429. Retrieved 13 December 2023. 
  36. ↑ Peoples, Glenn. Researchers Change Tune, Now Say P2P Has Negative Impact Billboard. June 22, 2010.
  37. ↑ Oberholzer & Strumpf. "File Sharing and Copyright" NBER Innovation Policy & the Economy, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2010. "Artists receive a significant portion of their remuneration not in monetary form – many of them enjoy fame, admiration, social status, and free beer in bars – suggesting a reduction in monetary incentives might possibly have a reduced impact on the quantity and quality of artistic production."
  38. ↑ Peoples, Glenn. Analysis: Are Musicians Losing the Incentive to Create? Billboard. July 26, 2010.
  39. ↑ Friedlander, Joshua P. & Lamy, Jonathan. Illegal Downloading = Fewer Musicians ifpi.org, July 19, 2010.
  40. ↑ The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study for Industry Canada , Birgitte Andersen and Marion Frenz
  41. ↑ Peoples, Glenn. A New Look at an Old Survey Finds P2P Hurts Music Purchases , Billboard. February 2, 2012.
  42. ↑ Barker, George R. Evidence of the Effect of Free Music Downloads on the Purchase of Music CDs Social Science Research Network. January 23, 2012.
  43. ↑ "Estimating displacement rates of copyrighted content in the EU". https://cdn.netzpolitik.org/wp-upload/2017/09/displacement_study.pdf. 
  44. ↑ Bhattacharjee, Sudip., Gopal, Ram D., Lertwachara, Kaveepan. Marsden, James R. & Telang, Rahul. The Effect of Digital Sharing Technologies on Music Markets: A Survival Analysis of Albums on Ranking Charts Management Science 2007.
  45. ↑ Hammond. Robert G. "Profit Leak? Pre-Release File Sharing and the Music Industry " May 2012. File sharing benefits mainstream albums such as pop music but not albums in niche genres such as indie music. ... Further, the finding that file sharing redistributes sales toward established/popular artists is inconsistent with claims made by proponents of file sharing that file-sharing democratizes music consumption."
  46. ↑ Peoples, Glenn. Business Matters: Pre-release File Sharing Helps Album Sales, Says a Study. So Why Not Replicate This Legally? Billboard. May 22, 2012.
  47. ↑ Global Internet Phenomena Report - Spring 2011 Sandvine Global Internet Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. May 12, 2011
  48. ↑ Secure Federal File Sharing Act : Report (to Accompany H.r. 4098) (Including Cost Estimate of the Congressional Budget Office).. United States.. March 11, 2010. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015085442476;view=1up;seq=1. Retrieved February 15, 2018. 
  49. ↑ Larrier, Travis (March 4, 2013). "Bilal Is the Future (And the Present ... And the Past)". The Shadow League. https://theshadowleague.com/bilal-is-the-future-and-the-present-and-the-past/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=c2ffa10bef1f424fb252543ee09315d038103bd2-1595252623-0-AQaQvFZEknRWDZtLz_-KpHpRYNhNqscHTfCHp6Tr8hduX5gs6uyAaQfef1hB3snODkYFwgSlXH9pQZS_OgmovWZg1dxWOfdv6KYaotwCiVhAfOA1NooyRIZBbQ7AuwrnezemOt0aOvC5JqXaUG-ixf6x0eEfcLz6_aB4mZaVUtX5eXwwFSBkfNJmBxG6In4wWiDOMJXhVyzdm_YyrRyUJNYEEsTZ9jXVjo4xZCyDtxOzub5oRn9F3uGLl4IYob_-oI06lSh6NUnbSSYC8SejeXAaDrJ45SThoPXWHhy2_qU8bC0XPFFKmGzELGJ4Di6R6VT6lqtMNIwnKTLQL7_EXDk. Retrieved July 20, 2020. 

Further reading





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