| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : AUGUST 14, 2000 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| COVER STORY
Napster's High and Low Notes The brainstorm of a 17-year-old college freshman became the hottest phenomenon on the Net in less than a year. Now under legal assault, its very existence is in doubt. Whatever happens, Napster has changed the music biz forever. JANUARY, 1999 Shawn Fanning drops out of Northeastern University after the first semester of his freshman year to finish writing the software for Napster. JUNE 1, 1999 Napster begins operations, letting people download free software that enables them to swap music stored on each other's computers. AUGUST, 1999 Napster closes its first round of seed funding from John Fanning, Shawn's uncle, and other investors, enough to keep the company going for six more months. SEPTEMBER, 1999 Eileen Richardson, a largely unknown venture capitalist from Boston, is hired to be Napster's CEO. OCTOBER/NOVEMBER, 1999 Napster and the major record companies hold talks about cooperating to distribute music over the Net. But Richardson's abrasive style hurts chances for a compromise with the record industry. DEC. 7, 1999 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sues for copyright infringement, asking for damages of $100,000 each time a song is copied. FEBRUARY/MARCH, 2000 Scores of universities ban Napster because heavy student use is overwhelming their computer systems. Students circulate online petitions, urging administrators to lift their Napster bans. APR. 13, 2000 Rock band Metallica sues Napster for copyright infringement and three schools--Yale University, University of Southern California, and Indiana University. MAY 9, 2000 To demonstrate its concern about copyright infringement, Napster boots more than 300,000 members from its service for downloading Metallica songs. MAY 21, 2000 Venture-capital firm Hummer Winblad invests $15 million. Hank Barry, a Hummer partner, becomes Napster's CEO. Richardson leaves shortly thereafter. JUNE 13, 2000 The RIAA files a motion for a preliminary injunction to block all major-label content from being traded through Napster. JUNE 15, 2000 Napster hires David Boies, the lawyer who triumphed over Microsoft in the Justice Dept.'s antitrust case. JUNE 19, 2000 Napster hires former A&M Records exec Milton Olin to be chief operating officer. JULY 24, 2000 Napster announces plans to work with digital-rights technology company Liquid Audio to try to make its music downloads safe for copyright holders. JULY 26, 2000 U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel rules in favor of the record industry and orders Napster to stop allowing copyrighted material to be swapped over its network by midnight two days later. JULY 28, 2000 Nine hours before Napster would have had to shut down, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the company should be allowed to continue operating. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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 RELATED ITEMS Inside Napster COVER IMAGE: Inside Napster TABLE: Napster's High and Low Notes TABLE: The Case for Napster TABLE: The Case Against Napster At Atlantic, ``My Beef Is Not Getting Paid'' Commentary: With Technology Like This, Who Needs Napster? TABLE: The Beat Goes On INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
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