On the heels of a court-ordered indefinite shutdown of Napster , the file-swapping service announced Tuesday (July 17) that it has settled its ongoing legal disputes with Metallica, Melissa Williams and Dr. Dre.
"Metallica has taken a courageous stand and a tough and principled approach to the protection of its name and creative output, and that of other artists," said Napster CEO Hank Barry in a statement released Tuesday (July 17). "They brought to our attention essential artists' rights issues, which we've addressed in our new technology. We respect what they've done and regret any harm which this dispute may have caused them."
In the settlement, Metallica & Dr. Dre have both agreed to allow the sharing of certain works through Napster when the company's long-awaited business model is up and running and paying artists and publishers for their works. Melissa Williams made a similar deal with the company.
"I think we've resolved this in a way that works for fans, recording artists, and songwriters alike," said Lars Ulrich, co-founder of Metallica, in a statement also released Tuesday. "Our beef hasn't been with the concept of sharing music; everyone knows that we've never objected to our fans trading tapes of our live concert performances."
"The problem we had with Napster was that they never asked us or other artists if we wanted to participate in their business," continued Ulrich. "We believe that this settlement will create the kind of enhanced protection for artists that we've been seeking from Napster. We await Napster's implementation of a new model, which will allow artists to choose how their creative efforts are distributed. It's good that they're going legit."
Metallica was the first major musical act to fight Napster. The band filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the company in 2000 (allstar, April 13, 2000). Dr. Dre followed suit shortly thereafter (allstar, April 25, 2000), and earlier this year, Melissa Williams also filed (January 4, 2001). All acts have been at the forefront of the anti-Napster campaign ever since.
"It's time to end the court fight and shake hands," said Napster founder Shawn Fanning. "We look forward to gaining Metallica's support and respect as we work to develop Napster into a tool that can be responsive both to artists' needs to communicate their art and the desires of music lovers throughout the world. We're pleased that this chapter is behind us."
"I work hard making music -- that's how I earn a living," added Melissa Williams. "Now that Napster's agreed to respect that, I don't have any animosity towards them."
---Mario Lansco