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News > Technology
Napster wants license law
April 3, 2001: 3:45 p.m. ET

Company CEO asks Senate Committee for Internet music law similar to radio
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A Senate hearing on online entertainment and copyrights in the digital age began Tuesday, with Napster Interim CEO Hank Barry calling for a law which would make licensed music available on the Internet, just as it is on radio.

Barry told the Senate Judiciary Committee a compulsory license would "avoid the need for individual negotiations on a scale that is unprecedented in the industry and thus facilitate the launch" of new Internet services.

He also said the license should include "direct payment to artists."

graphicCommittee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch asked the panel why the royalty system allows music on the radio isn't possible on the Internet.

Richard Parsons, co-chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner, said the urge to make money itself is an incentive to come up with a solution and it would take time for conflicting interests to work themselves out. AOL Time Warner is the parent company of CNNfn.com.

Ken Berry of EMI said he would be willing to talk to Napster, once Napster comes up with a business model which would protect copyright.

The committee also heard testimony from music artists Don Henley and Alanis Morissette.

Morissette testified piracy can actually be good for some artists starting out, since they never receive royalties after their initial advance. (630K WAV) (630K AIFF)

Napster has been tousling with the recording industry, which has recently accused the file sharing company of willfully not following a federal judge's order to block copyrighted material, saying the song-swap service was still fostering the trade of millions of illegal music files online. graphic





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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.