Record Labels Sue VCs For Supporting Napster
from the get-over-it dept
This shouldn't really be a surprise (though, it certainly took them long enough). A few months back, some songwriters, realizing they were no longer raking in piles of cash from their old songs decided that, instead of actually understanding the market forces that have changed their business, they might as well sue somebody to make sure they could keep up their lifestyle. So, they sued Bertelesmann for actually (gasp!) supporting Napster and trying to turn it into a legitimate business. Now, realizing that those songwriters may have hit on something, the record labels are suing Hummer Winblad - the main VC firm that backed Napster, saying they "contributed to widespread internet piracy". They might as well sue themselves for not understanding market forces and driving their own customers away. I'm still waiting for the day when the music industry sues "the internet" for contributing to music piracy. Clearly, the music industry is in the control of lawyers now, and doesn't seem to understand how business actually works any more.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
