NAPSTER/ BMG AFTERMATH November 03 2000 dotmusic.com Metallica fight on; Bizkit could earn millions; ASCAP onboard? As the fallout from the Napster/ Bertelsmann partnership announcement continues to settle, Metallica and Dr. Dre vow to continue battling Napster while US royalty collection society ASCAP offers to issue official licenses to the company. Marilyn Berhman, president of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, says she would be happy to see Napster "grow and prosper". To that extent her organisation is willing to collect royalties from the Napster on behalf of songwriters: "We ask only that it be licensed for its performances of music so that songwriters may be fairly compensated for the use of their works...We welcome any mutually agreeable resolution of the outstanding issues among the interested parties." Meanwhile it has been revealed that nu-metallers Limp Bizkit, with whom Napster co-promoted a recent free tour, stand to earn a fortune should Napster go public on the stock exchange. Having already been given $1.8 million to arrange the tour, Bizkit were also granted 447,000 shares in the file-swapping company - an amount that could total millions should Napster's huge infamy and popularity translate into share dividend wealth. Metallica and Dr. Dre on the other hand, who of course have not invested anything in Napster, are still pursuing their copyright infringement cases against the firm. Because, as their lawyer Howard King states, "At some point in time, Napster is going to have to pay the price for the hundreds of thousands of infringements that occurred ... If Napster goes to a subscription model, where the only music that is available is with the consent of the artists, Metallica and Dr. Dre will be happy with that... but that doesn't mean we forgive and forget the past infringements." comment on this article e-mail this to a friend start a discussion [about i-drive] writing index thoughts dotmusic index Problems? Questions? Suggestions? Contact me: mail@tobyslater.com back to top back to home page

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