Napster (Original)

The peer-to-peer file sharing service that changed music forever in two years, sued into oblivion by the industry it accidentally destroyed.

† 1999 – 2001Legal issues Died in 2001

Born

1999

Died

2001

Lifespan

2 years

Cause of Death

Legal issues

What Happened

Napster launched on June 1, 1999, built by Shawn Fanning, a Northeastern University freshman, and Sean Parker. It did something radical: it let anyone, anywhere, share their MP3 collection with anyone else. For the first time, nearly any song ever recorded was free and available in minutes.

By early 2001, Napster had over 80 million registered users. College dorm rooms became unofficial servers. A generation stopped buying CDs almost overnight. The music industry, still printing money on $18 albums, saw the future and panicked.

The lawsuits came fast. The RIAA sued in December 1999. Metallica and Dr. Dre sued personally in 2000 after finding unreleased tracks on the network. In July 2001, a federal court ordered Napster to block all infringing material. Unable to comply without breaking the service entirely, Napster shut down in July 2001 and filed for bankruptcy in 2002.

Napster lost in court but won the future. Apple launched the iTunes Music Store in 2003. Spotify arrived in 2008. Every legal streaming service today exists in the shape Napster carved — on-demand, instant, the entire world's music one click away. The brand was sold and sold again and still exists as a streaming service, but the Napster that changed everything died in 2001.

“The record companies have created hysteria. What we've done is made it easy for the consumer.”

— Shawn Fanning, Napster co-founder, 2000

Last Words — Official Shutdown Notice

“It is with great sadness that we announce that, effective today, Napster is no longer a going concern. The fight to bring peer-to-peer technology to the world will continue — just not here.”