Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Court upholds ruling; \ Napster’s hope sinks

Napster, the online music-trading organization was delivered some tough news on Monday, when it was announced that its appeal to the federal courts to stop an injunction placed upon them last July was rejected. The decision could inevitably result in the termination of the online community.

The decision, made by the United States’ Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals was apparently based on an assumption that Napster knowingly understands that music traded via its service is pirated and therefore distributed illegally.

A fight against Napster has been led in part by several musicians who claim their music is unlawfully being traded, and as artists, they are not being treated fairly. On Monday, Metallica, one of the most prominent music bands in the fight against Napster, released an official statement on their web page.

‘We are delighted that the Court has upheld the rights of all artists to protect and control their creative efforts,’ Metallica said. ‘The Ninth Circuit Court has confirmed that musicians, songwriters, filmmakers, authors, visual artists and other members of the creative community are entitled to the same copyright protections online that they traditionally been afforded offline.’

Metallica also stressed their reasons for fighting Napster are not personal, but considerate of the best interests of all musicians.

‘We have never objected to the technology, the internet or the digital distribution of music,’ they said. ‘All we have ever asked is that artists be able to control how, when and in what form their creativity is distributed through these channels. This is something that Napster has continually refused to do. Now the court has made that decision for them.’

Students of the University of Massachusetts have also voiced concerns about Napster and the events surrounding it.

Naomi Weitzman, a sophomore Classics major, said she frequently downloads material from Napster.

‘I think that free music should be for everyone,’ she explained. ‘I don’t think that Napster should be shut down. I’m a really big fan of Napster, and I understand copyright rules, but the purpose I see in Napster is that you’re interested in a particular artist, you hear some of their music and then you want to go out and buy their CD.’

Weitzman also noted that she would be willing to pay a small fee to use Napster if required to.

Napster recently merged with recording giant BMG to establish a payment plan for users to subscribe to the service, thereby giving some compensation to the artists’ royalties.

Some students are not abundantly eager to fight the rejection of Napster’s appeal. Satish Iyer, a senior Mathematics and Chemistry major said he doesn’t believe in Napster because he thinks it violates copyright laws.

‘You should consider that as artists, [selling music] is the only way that they make money, and that could be the only source of income that you have,’ he esaid.

Iyer said that he would support a Napster shut down, and feels that the University’s campus-wide online network would benefit from a reduction in the use of the system. He said that Napster congests the network, and that removal of the system would significantly improve network performance.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this article

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