Napster offers $1 billion to the recording industry

Napster has offered $1 $1 billion to the recording industry if they settle the copyright infringement lawsuit. Napster would pay $150 million per year for five years to the major record labels (Sony, Warner, BMG, EMI and Universal) and pay $50 million per year for five years to independent artists and labels.

Napster, created by a 19 year old student, allows users to swap MP3 songs freely through Internet. Now Napster is planning a new paid service that will be launched this summer.

Napster Inc., associated to the German group Bertelsmann, is trying to reach an agreement with the major labels to make sure that the lawsuit does not end up with the popular music file-swapping service. Napster says that their research strongly suggests that a high percentage of Napster users are willing to pay. But, "we will not be certain until we actually begin charging, but we do know that Napster has become an important part of daily life for a lot of people."

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Datum: 21/02/2001

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