[CC] Fw: <nettime> The Napsterisation of Everything

[Michael Gurstein]

Long, but very well worth reading...

M

----- Original Message -----
From: "richard barbrook" <richard@hrc.wmin.ac.uk>
To: <NETTIME-L@bbs.thing.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 8:18 PM
Subject: <nettime> The Napsterisation of Everything


> The Napsterisation of Everything: a review of John Alderman, Sonic Boom:
> Napster, P2P and the battle for the future of music, Fourth Estate, London
> 2001.
>
> Richard Barbrook
>
>
> "They just don't get it." During the dotcom boom of the late-1990s, this
> catch phrase was a popular way of dismissing anyone who expressed doubts
> about the world-historical significance of the Net. How could someone be
so
> out-of-touch as not to realise that this technology was transforming
> everything: business, politics, culture and even personal relationships?
> The future would belong to those did "get it." Yet, only a couple of years
> later, such optimism about the potential of the Net already sounds dated.
> How can anyone still believe that this technology will change anything
> after the implosion of the NASDAQ share bubble and the collapse of so many
> dotcom companies. Surely the wild times of the Net were only a temporary
> aberration? As Microsoft, AOL-Time-Warner and the other big corporations
> take over cyberspace, it will soon be back to business as usual. There is
> no longer any necessity to "get it." The Net will change nothing.
>
> John Alderman's new book - Sonic Boom: Napster, P2P and the battle for the
> future of music - is a useful correction to this new consensus. Just as it
> was once necessary to criticise dotcom boosters, it is now important to
> challenge the Net pessimists. In Sonic Boom, John Alderman tells the
> cautionary tale of a rich and powerful industry which was determined not
to
> "get it" - and how it suffered the consequences of this mistake. During
the
> late-1990s, while so many others were succumbing to dotcom hype, the music
> business stubbornly resisted any accommodation with the new technology.
Its
> corporate leaders used all of their lobbying power and legal resources to
> attack the Net. They had the copyright laws strengthened, blocked software
> development and closed down websites. They even successfully prosecuted
> Napster - one of the most popular services on the Net. Yet, despite these
> triumphs, all their efforts could only delay the inevitable. For while
> others might comfort themselves that nothing much has changed, the music
> industry is finally realising - much to its horror - that the Net is
> transforming everything.
>
> Sonic Boom is a journalist's account of this transitional period in media
> history. In the best tradition of the genre, John Alderman provides a
> well-paced narrative of the key events and insightful descriptions of its
> leading players. Above all, he explains why the music business has been so
> determined to resist the Net. From its earliest days, the new
> communications system was organised around the sharing of information
> between its users. Despite its recent commercialisation, this gift economy
> remains at the heart of the Net. People build their own websites,
> contribute to listservers, send emails and take part in chatrooms. If
> someone asks for some information, they are usually happy to give it to
> them. As long as the Net was only used by a minority of enthusiasts, the
> music industry could ignore what was going on in cyberspace. However,
> complacency was no longer an option when advances in hardware and software
> meant that large numbers of people started sharing music files with each
> other. Meeting through services such as Napster, Net users could usually
> find someone who would give them copies of tunes which they are looking
for
> - and, in return, they were delighted to send out tracks from their own
> collections to those who requested them.
>
> For music fans, file-sharing is a dream come true. From the latest
releases
> to deleted rarities, everything is available for only the cost of
> connecting to the Net. Someone somewhere must have made a copy of that
> sought-after track from their CD and vinyl collection - and, more than
> likely, lots of other people will have copies of their copy. But, for
music
> industry executives, file-sharing is their worst nightmares about
> home-taping from the 1970s come back to haunt them. Although accessing Net
> still costs money, downloaded music is free. Worst of all, this hi-tech
> gift economy isn't just a short-lived phenomenon. One of the main reasons
> why the Net was invented in the first place was to allow file-sharing
> between computers in different locations. Over thirty years later, this
> concept is at the centre of another wave of technological innovation:
> peer-to-peer computing (P2P). Contemporary developers are enabling
> computers, mobile phones, games consoles, and all sorts of other devices
to
> interact with each other. Everything linked with everything. Everyone
> swapping files with everyone.
>
> As Sonic Boom emphasises, this utopian vision of ubiquitous peer-to-peer
> computing inspired the emergence of a new youth subculture in the
> late-1990s. Exemplified by the founder of Napster, talented school kids
and
> university students wrote many of the pioneering P2P programs. Their
> contemporaries were the first to realise the potential of this code - and
> were the people who turned peer-to-peer computing into a global
phenomenon.
> Napster was the icon of this new generation. As John Alderman points out,
> the music business has long prided itself in its skill at spotting the
> latest trends and its ability to make money out of the most subversive
> forms of youth subculture. Back in the 1960s, the hippie generation had
> called for political revolution - and broke almost every aesthetic and
> social taboo. Yet the music industry was still able to profit from its
> cultural creativity. Compared to their predecessors, the ambitions of the
> Napster generation seemed much more modest: sharing cool tunes over the
> Net. Ironically, it was this apparently apolitical youth subculture
which -
> for the first time - confronted the music industry with an impossible
> demand. Everything is permitted within the wonderful world of pop with
only
> one exception: free music.
>
> Unlike earlier forms of youthful rebellion, peer-to-peer computing is a
> direct threat to the economics of the music industry. Despite the rapid
> changes in musical tastes over the decades, the fundamentals of its
> business structure have remained the same. Musicians are contracted to
make
> recordings. Music is sold on bits of plastic to consumers. Copyright laws
> ensure that no one can distribute recordings without paying their owners.
> Everyone supposedly benefits from this arrangement. Fans are offered a
wide
> choice of many different types of music. Musicians are able to earn a
> living - and a few can become seriously rich. Small companies can survive
> by selling niche styles of music. Large corporations can own profitable
> music companies as part of their multi-media empires. Having recuperated
> successive cultural revolutions, this business structure appeared to be
> immutable. It took the arrival of P2P to prove otherwise.
>
> The author of Sonic Boom argues that the collapse of the traditional
> economics of the music industry wasn't inevitable. If different decisions
> had been made at particular moments, it might have been possible to
> preserve copyright within cyberspace. For instance, in the mid-1990s, it
> seemed obvious to some dotcom pioneers that the music industry would
> quickly embrace the Net. Up to then, the business had thrived on
> technological innovation. The electric guitar had inspired rock music. The
> CD had given new life to old tunes. Like these earlier inventions, the Net
> was simply another improvement in the production and distribution of
music.
> Learning from experience, these dotcom entrepreneurs were convinced that
> old economics would inevitably be replicated in new technologies. All that
> would happen is that music would be sold as digital files over the Net
> rather than as bits of plastic through record shops. Encryption would
> prevent any unauthorised copying of these music files.
>
> As John Alderman relates, these dotcom start-ups were surprised when the
> music industry fiercely opposed their plans. Despite the Net hype of the
> period, many executives still hoped that the digital future implied
nothing
> more serious than producing more sophisticated bits of plastic: CD-roms or
> DVDs. They were worried that on-line distribution systems would wipe out
> their substantial investments in disc pressing plants. Others feared that
a
> virtual music marketplace would lead to the 'disintermediatisation' of the
> industry. The Net might allow musicians to sell tunes directly to their
> fans across the world without needing to sign with a major record label.
> Either way, these dotcom schemes sounded dangerous. It was much easier to
> ignore the Net and hope that it would go away. The music industry was
> determined not to "get it."
>
> According to John Alderman, this failure to create a virtual marketplace
> for selling music was a fatal error. Deprived of a legal method of
> obtaining music over the Net, people began swapping digital copies of
their
> CD and vinyl collections with each other. Since payment wasn't required,
> these music files were usually formatted in MP3 - an open standard without
> any copyright protection. Like other Net obsessions, sharing music soon
> developed into a fun way of meeting people on-line. Fans could chat about
> their favourite musicians while giving away tunes. This underground scene
> was given a massive boost by the invention of Napster. Written by an MP3
> collector, this program created a virtual meeting-place where people into
> swapping music files could find each other. From the moment of its
release,
> the popularity of Napster grew exponentially. Early adopters recommended
> the program to their friends who, in turn, passed on the good news to
their
> mates. What had begun as a cult quickly crossed over into the mainstream.
> For the first time, rebellious youth were identifying themselves not by
> following particular bands, but by using a specific Net service: Napster.
>
> A new generation gap had emerged. Each youth subculture achieves notoriety
> by antagonising its elders. Just like hippies smoking dope, the users of
> Napster were united through a minor form of civil disobedience: breaking
> the copyright laws. As in the past, their youthful cool was confirmed when
> out-of-touch oldies tried to stop them from misbehaving. But what was
> different this time around was that the music industry was leading the
> persecution of the new subculture. Outraged at young people getting music
> for free, its down-with-the-street rebels quickly mutated into
> tight-arsed-corporate conservatives. They compiled long lists of names of
> fans who had to be prevented from sharing music files with each other.
They
> hired expensive lawyers to scare the youth into obeying the law. Rock 'n'
> roll had declared war on the Net.
>
> Sonic Boom takes the reader through the twists and turns of the celebrated
> court case against Napster. Having persuaded the political establishment
to
> tighten the copyright laws, the music industry decided to close down the
> most prominent threat to its profits. Since the Napster service had become
> a dotcom company, it was an easy target. Here was a commercial operation
> hoping to benefit from the theft of intellectual property by its users.
The
> music industry eventually won its case. Napster was ordered to prevent its
> users from sharing tunes without paying their owners. However winning a
> battle isn't the same as winning the war. Crucially, Napster was an
> underdeveloped form of peer-to-peer computing. When it was disabled,
people
> were forced to move their music file-sharing to more sophisticated P2P
> programs: Gnutella, Aimster, Morpheus, Freenet. Ironically, the court case
> has provided the opportunity to fix the social and technological flaws
> within Napster. A proprietary program requiring a central meeting-place
was
> being replaced by open source software directly connecting users with each
> other. One court case couldn't destroy the hi-tech gift economy.
>
> In his book, John Alderman remembers attending one of the first on-line
> music conferences in the mid-1990s where an industry executive declared
> that the Net should be immediately closed down. Copyright protection had
to
> take precedence over technological innovation. In contrast, the author of
> Sonic Boom - then and now - does "get it." The music industry has no veto
> over the future. Its lobbyists and lawyers can only slow down the spread
of
> peer-to-peer computing. Sooner or later, file-sharing over broadband
> networks will become as unremarkable as making a phone call, watching
> television or using a computer today. The utopian vision of the Napster
> generation is technically feasible: every tune - ever made - for free.
> Quite rightly, what worries John Alderman is how anyone can earn a living
> from making music in such circumstances? While almost every other sector
of
> the economy will be profiting from peer-to-peer computing, the music
> industry will have lost its major source of revenue: selling bits of
> plastic. Who then will pay the piper?
>
> Sonic Boom begins with an introduction by Herbie Hancock who - not
> surprisingly - emphasises this problem. Like so many others, this great
> musician knows how the industry has always cheated and exploited both
> artists and audiences. Yet, he fears that the cure of the youth might be
> worse than the disease of their elders. Musicians could end up the biggest
> losers if all music files are free. At the end of his book, John Alderman
> outlines some possible solutions to this dilemma. Even if it might have
> been possible in the mid-1990s, it is now too late to replicate the buying
> and selling of music imprinted on bits of plastic in virtual form. Big
> mainframes serving encrypted tunes to passive consumers is a
> science-fiction fantasy from the Fordist past. Instead, the music industry
> must find some way of commercialising peer-to-peer file-sharing. Even
> before the Napster case was concluded, the Bertelsmann corporation broke
> ranks with the other major record companies to buy a stake in this P2P
> pioneer. For a small monthly subscription, Napster users would be allowed
> to break the copyright laws. Soon afterwards, its competitors announced
> their own plans for on-line music services. Yet even this compromise may
> have come too late. Why would anyone pay for music which is easily
> available for free? The old tunes are all available on unencrypted formats
> and the protection on new tracks is quickly broken. Once they have
> experienced digital abundance, why would anyone welcome the forced
> imposition of analogue scarcity upon the Net?
>
> John Alderman believes that more inventive methods must be found to
finance
> on-line music. Like so many other Californian analysts of the Net, the
> author looks back to the West Coast's hippie past for potential solutions.
> For instance, the Grateful Dead - a prominent late-1960s psychedelic rock
> band - pioneered one promising way of creating an alternative economic
> relationship between musicians and their audiences. Although signed to a
> major label, its members encouraged their fans to make and trade tapes of
> their live performances. Contrary to free market orthodoxy, these
> altruistic ethics proved to be financially rewarding. While their
> contemporaries faded into obscurity or lost all credibility, the Grateful
> Dead are still worshipped by a devoted community of fans long after the
> demise of the band's charismatic leader. Any money lost from bootlegs has
> been more than compensated by increased sales of their commercial
> recordings and of tickets for their live concerts. The Grateful Dead
proved
> that musicians could earn a good living out of free music.
>
> John Alderman proposes that the music industry should learn from this
tried
> and tested example. For a start, swapping MP3s should be accepted as the
> contemporary equivalent of trading bootleg tapes. Instead of fighting this
> phenomenon, corporate executives should realise that giving away music can
> be another way of making money. For instance, a tune available for free
> over the Net could persuade someone to buy a concert ticket or, as long as
> the sound quality remains superior, to purchase CD or DVD versions. Above
> all, the music industry must move from selling tunes to servicing fans.
> Although young people are reluctant to buy individual tracks over the Net,
> they have already shown willing to pay for a more intimate relationship
> with their heroes. New releases, concert tickets, celebrity gossip, chat
> zones and other goodies can be made available on-line for a monthly fee.
> >From being little more than a sideline, fan clubs could become the major
> source of revenue for the music industry in the future. As one way of
> making money disappears, another may be opening up.
>
> Being a journalist's tale, Sonic Boom can't be expected to provide a
> sophisticated theoretical analysis of the economics of the Net. Neither
> Adam Smith nor Karl Marx were ever likely to appear in its index. Yet,
John
> Alderman's populist account is still much more perceptive than most books
> or articles on the subject published by academics. Above all, this author
> does "get it." No copyright law or encryption system is going to stop the
> swapping of music files between consenting adults in the long-run. There
> can be no return to business-as-usual for the music industry. It's over,
> it's finished. The ideological shibboleths of neo-liberal economics have
> been broken. Just as importantly, John Alderman knows that money can be
> made inside the hi-tech gift economy. Free music on the Net will provide
> wages for musicians - and profits for their employers. A more evolved form
> of capitalism will emerge from the advent of ubiquitous file-sharing.
>
> Living in California, the author of Sonic Boom has to concentrate on the
> economic consequences of peer-to-peer computing. What has happened within
> the music industry is already beginning to spread to Hollywood. With a
> broadband connection, sharing movies becomes almost as easy as swapping
> music. Lots of jobs and money could be at risk on the West Coast if the
> leaders of the movie business repeat the same mistakes made by the CEOs of
> the music industry. Sonic Boom has an important lesson to teach them.
> However, John Alderman's fascination with the economic impact of the Net
> sidelines any consideration of its cultural meaning. Over the past few
> decades, musicians have been using computer technologies to change music
> itself. Long before people were swapping MP3s, sampling, remixing and home
> studios had already redefined the sounds heard in the clubs and on the
> airwaves. Above all, these new ways of creating music anticipated many of
> the contemporary changes in the economics of music caused by the advent of
> peer-to-peer computing. The fixed product has long been mutating into a
> fluid process within house music. Despite living near San Francisco's
> famous rave scene, John Alderman never discusses this socio-cultural
> revolution. While the Grateful Dead may have pioneered new methods of
> rewarding artists, their music never evolved beyond the aesthetics of the
> electric guitar. Yet, as was pointed out long ago, radical changes in the
> economic base of society are paralleled within the cultural
superstructure.
> By transforming the ways of distributing music, peer-to-peer computing
will
> also inspire new forms of music.
>
> No book can predict the exact shape of the P2P future. Rather Sonic Boom
> should be praised for providing some important lessons from its recent
> history. Although they were a minority even among Net users, the Napster
> subculture successfully pioneered peer-to-peer computing for the masses.
As
> increasing numbers go on-line and connections speeds keep rising, more and
> more people will come to discover the wonders of swapping information over
> the Net. The secret is out. However, as Sonic Boom recounts, there are
> powerful interests who are terrified of the social upheaval being
unleashed
> by peer-to-peer computing. The prosecution of Napster has encouraged more
> attempts to reverse the evolution of the Net. Repressive legislation and
> technological fixes are still being used to inhibit the spread of
> file-sharing. There are even plans to outlaw all computers which aren't
> hardwired to protect copyright material! What Sonic Boom does so well is
> demonstrate is the futility of these schemes in the long-term. Digital
> files can't be confined inside bits of plastic for ever. Instead the music
> industry - and other creative industries - will just have to develop more
> sophisticated ways of doing business. For peer-to-peer computing isn't
> simply a technological leap forward. More importantly, it is also the
> catalyst of economic innovation. Now do you "get it?"
>
>
> Richard Barbrook works for the Hypermedia Research Centre, University of
> Westminster, London, England: <www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk>.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Dr. Richard Barbrook
> Hypermedia Research Centre
> School of Communications and Creative Industries
> University of Westminster
> Watford Road
> Northwick Park
> HARROW HA1 3TP
>
> <www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk>
>
> landline: +44 (0)20 7911 5000 x 4590
>
> mobile: 07879-441873
>
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