HIS MUSIC-SHARING SOFTWARE PROGRAM Napster caused panic in the recording industry when it showed up on the Internet in 1999, only to be shut down last year in legal proceedings over copyright issues. Napster Inc.’s best hope for survival as a company was dashed last month when a bankruptcy court judge blocked its sale to German media concern Bertelsmann AG.
Napster laid off its employees. Its headquarters in a drab office park in Redwood City, Calif., sit empty but for a lone former executive dealing with financial odds- and-ends. The company’s creditors last week said they signed a nonbinding letter of intent with an unidentifed party to sell Napster’s assets, but the creditors continue to talk with other bidders.
Now Napster’s founder and former chief technology officer is spending his first few weeks of unemployment embarking on another type of nurturing relationship, as new legal guardian of his 15-year-old half-brother. Mr. Fanning, who quit college as a freshman at Northeastern University in Boston and who has no current plans to return to school, says he’s also not ready to jump back into the online music industry.
But this is not to say the music industry can rest easily. Online music-swapping through Napster copycat programs has exploded. In an interview, Mr. Fanning discusses the entertainment industry’s continuing battle against Internet file-sharing services, the legacy of the service he created and life after Napster.
The interview:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/815473.asp?cp1=1