I had no idea this was still ongoing, but EMI was the last label standing in its litigation against Bertelsmann, who had provided $85M in loan backings to Napster. I fully respect copyright owners’ rights and all, but this excerpt from a NYT article is very telling:
The deal between EMI and Bertelsmann represents a resolution of a bitter chapter for the music industry, which has long sought redress for the havoc unleashed by Napster in 1999 and later by its more sophisticated successors. Since swapping music files online turned into a mass phenomenon, sales of recorded music have plunged. While the industry has won a series of legal victories, it has been unable to reverse the slide, which it attributes largely to continuing piracy.
Suing Bertelsmann had appeared to represent the industry’s best chance to recover significant damages.
It’s telling, because the labels still blame Napster, instead of their reluctance to come up with a compelling, easy to use and successful digital distribution system in an era of digital media.
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