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MP3's have become extremely
popular within the last 2 years. The MP3 revolution
online has given unsigned artists the ability to
distribute their music throughout the world without
a distribution company or middleman. But what happens
when somebody decides to copy his favorite Lynard
Sknard album to his hard drive, ripp it to an MP3
and send it to the rest of the world? This has raised
a lot of questions regarding the legality of trading
copyrighted music without the owner or copyright
holder’s permission.
Over the last year, multiple
lawsuits have been filed
by the Recording Industry
Artists’ Association
(RIAA) and individual
artists and record labels
against Napster and MP3.com.
MP3.com has settled out
of court with four of
the five record companies
that filed the original
lawsuits. Napster was
ordered by federal judge
Marilyn Hall Patel to
be shut down for facilitating
the trading of copyrighted
materials. A few hours
before Napster was shut
down a federal appeals
court decided to allow
the continued operation
of Napster until a panel
of judges could listen
to the appeal. As of
the end of October, Napster
has joined forces with
business giant Bertelsmann
AG to develop a new member-based
service. Time
will determine how copyrighted
material will be distributed
over the Internet and
how major record labels
will take advantage of
this new technology.
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