Music sharing service Napster may be shut down right now because of a court order requiring it to comply with the terms of a previously imposed injunction, but that hasn’t stopped the company’s legal team from forging legal settlements with heavy metal band Metallica and hip hop producer/artist Dr. Dre.
Under the terms of the settlements, Napster agrees to identify and block access to files that Dr. Dre and Metallica don’t want to see shared on the service. In return, Dr. Dre and Metallica have both agreed to make some material available on Napster once the company adopts a secure subscription-based service, expected later this summer.
“We now understand how important it is to Dr. Dre to control how his music is distributed and to be paid for the effort and talent that go into crafting his records. We’re pleased to report that our current system addresses his concerns and regret that we were not more sensitive to his concerns in the past,” said Napter interim CEO Barry.
Napster creator Shawn Fanning said that even when his company was at odds with Metallica, they understood that Metallica had the best interest of artists in mind.
“Despite the litigation, Metallica’s position has been a reflection of their high ideals and their private dealings with Napster have always been gracious,” said Fanning.
“I work hard making music — that’s how I earn a living. Now that Napster’s agreed to respect that, I don’t have any beef with them,” said Dr. Dre.
“The problem we had with Napster was that they never asked us or other artists if we wanted to participate in their business. We believe that this settlement will create the kind of enhanced protection for artists that we’ve been seeking from Napster. We await Napster’s implementation of a new model which will allow artists to choose how their creative efforts are distributed,” said Metallica drummer and co-founder Lars Ulrich.