Twenty years ago, the idea of free music was so compelling that up to 80m users downloaded Napster and broke the law. The aftershocks are still being felt todayJune 1999, and the music industry is rolling in cash. It took until 2015 for the record industry to finally move into recovery – watching aghast as its value dropped every year from 2000 to a low of $15bn in 2014. From a consumer point of view, it opened up music to the whole world in a completely liberated way.”The battle with Napster also instilled an image of the music business as grasping and arrogant. That is one of the biggest downsides of what happened with Napster.”Those who tried to make Napster a success still feel the music industry missed a great opportunity.

Source: The Guardian May 31, 2019 09:00 UTC