This is book is about - but not only about - Napster. The story of Napster is important in its own right, but its legacy even more so. The phenomenon that surrounds Napster has highlighted the extraordinary potential for the mass mobilisation of consumer and community power. This irresistible force - the underground internet - has blown apart conventional models of doing business.
Merriden charts the birth of Napster and its genesis in Internet music communities. He describes how big business felt complacent enough to ignore Napster, only to turn on it when the truth about their business models dawned. As the big companies got nasty Bertelsmann and Thomas Middelhof broke ranks and did a deal with Napster.
Irresistible Forces examines the legacy of Napster and its lasting impact on e-Business. In particular it charts the future of digital rights management, the lasting effect of Napster on the music and other content businesses, the rise of business to community models and the peer-to-peer future.
Irresistible Forces is the soundtrack for the new world of the Internet
Author(s): Trevor Merriden
Publisher: Capstone
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 192
Contents......Page 5
Preface and Acknowledgments......Page 7
CHAPTER 1 The Birth of the Napster Phenomenon......Page 15
CHAPTER 2 Why Napster Spread Like Wildfi re......Page 28
CHAPTER 3 Big Boys Get Angry......Page 45
CHAPTER 4 The Battle Commences......Page 63
CHAPTER 5 The Voice of the People: the Fury of the Underground Internet......Page 76
CHAPTER 6 Bertelsmann (and the End of Napster As We Know It)......Page 98
CHAPTER 7 Children of Napster – Music and Video......Page 111
CHAPTER 8 Post-Napster: Will Online Subscription Prosper?......Page 125
CHAPTER 9 Napster, File Sharing and Peer-to-Peer – the Impact on the Wider Business World......Page 138
CHAPTER 10 Newcomers and Old Stagers......Page 151
CHAPTER 11 Irresistible Forces and Immovable Objects......Page 163
CHAPTER 12 Conclusion – Napster, Business and the Future......Page 180
Index......Page 187
