As you are likely aware Metallica and the RIAA are suing Napster, developer of the the wildly popular Internet MP3 swapping software, for copyright infringement and "racketeering." The suit is seeking damages of $100,000 for each song that was traded, for a total of $10,000,000.

"Now, that's an awful lot of revenue they claim to have lost, isn't it?" asks Mark Erickson, President and Chief Executive Officer of August Nelson, Inc., a San Francisco based technology group that has published the paylar$.com Website, parodying Metallica's litigiousness. For the past ten years, Mark has also been writing and recording songs with several bands.

By naming "several John or Jane Does as defendants in the suit," Erickson notes, "Metallica has positioned themselves to sue their fans directly for alleged copyright infringement. This means that Metallica fans could be fined and even serve jail time, especially because Metallica is invoking the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, which was designed to fight organized crime. It seems to me that threatening to fine your fans and put them in jail is not the best way to promote your band.

The "paylars" name is a none-too-subtle reference to Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, who labeled MP3-trading Metallica fans as criminals when he said, 'From a business standpoint, this is about piracy... The trading of such information - whether it's music, videos, photos, or whatever - is, in effect, trafficking in stolen goods.' Meanwhile, a representative of Q Prime, the band's management company, equated downloading songs from Napster with stealing cash from an untended record store cash register.

"Until I can pay for my groceries with a pirated MP3 file," says Erickson, "I think that Q Prime's position is nothing but hype, and does nothing to endear Metallica or its associates to their fans.

"At August Nelson, we think that industry fears of rampant piracy ruining the music business are nothing but paranoid propaganda. Industry representatives have failed to point to any data that shows the extent to which MP3s and CD burners, by making copying music so easy, have hurt industry revenues. That's because there are no such data, because sales keep going up!

"We don't believe that it's a mere coincidence that as copying has gotten easier, more people have had the chance to try out more music, and as a result they've ended up buying more music. Mr. Erickson cites Soundscan data indicatinng that CD sales are up, not down, despite (or because of?) the growing popularity of MP3 piracy.

"So, sales are up, copying is easy, everybody is suing everybody for millions of dollars in lost revenue that actually weren't lost," notes Mr. Erickson. "Metallica is seeking $10,000,000 in damages and may try to put their fans in jail. Has the whole world turned upside down? Isn't the real problem that there's an easy way to GET the music but no way to actually PAY for it?"

Yeah, and perhaps that the big music biz can't stand the notion of losing the tight, top-down control over distribution of music that it has heretofore enjoyed.

"We think that if it's cheap and easy for people to pay for digital music, people will generally pay," says Mark Erickson. "We also think that copying and trading music can have a positive impact on an artist's overall sales. That's why we combined these elements on OrangeAlley, a website where artists and their fans work together to promote and sell music. At OrangeAlley we not only encourage fans to copy and trade MP3s, we pay them for it, while ensuring that the artists get paid for their art."

August Nelson's flagship site is an ecommerce site dedicated to empowering independent artists & musicians. August Nelson says that through its implementation of the BootLegal distribution system, artists can use effective grass roots support to build and sustain their fan base while getting paid for their work.

Erickson also says that if you feel bad that Metallica has lost money from having their MP3s copied and traded, you can use PayLars.com to make a donation to them. Paylars.com will pay all the money it collects, less external costs like hosting and credit card fees, directly to Metallica or their management. August Nelson is making NO profit whatsoever from PayLars.com.

The payLAR$ site also publishes a common sense manifesto, citing the following points:

1. Napster- and Gnutella-like peer to peer file sharing technology must not be banned. The technology exists and cannot now be uninvented, therefore banning it would require either a confiscation of every computer or unprecedented monitoring of individual behavior by corporations. Plus, these tools can be and are used legally as well as illegally; if we ban them we should think about banning every product or service that can be used illegally.

2. Individual music fans must not be fined or jailed for alleged copyright infringement related to MP3 trading. Our copyright laws are completely inadequate for the digital world in which we're living, therefore fining or jailing individuals for copyright infringement at this time would not serve any definition of justice.

3. Musical artists must be compensated fairly for their work in the digital age, directly or indirectly. True artists make music for the love of making music, not for the money, but they still have to pay the rent just like everyone else. So support your favorite artists however you can - buy their CDs and t-shirts, go to their concerts, pay for their MP3s - so they can keep making a living making music that you enjoy.

Well said on all three points.

Also published on the site are open letters to Lars Ulrich of Metallica and Hilary Rosen of the RIAA by Kurt Nimmo, who is identified as an independent observer not affiliated with payLAR$.com or August Nelson, Inc.

In his letter to Ms. Rosen, Mr. Nimmo, a musician, says that he encourages people to use Gnutella (sort of Napster on steroids, and with no central server) to download music. "You ignore it at your peril," warns Mr. Nimmo, "because this anarchistic method of development and distribution is what will prevent you from wiping out Gnutella or any of its many clones. You may be able to track down a few developers and sue them, maybe even throw them in prison, but this will not stop the spread of Gnutella and the free sharing of music files. Ultimately, I predict, out of desperation, you will go after individual Gnutella users. As Metallica has learned, this tactic alienates fans, even turns them against the band. I know this personally, considering the responses my open letter to Lars Ulrich has received. In the end, you will lose and people will continue to share music files."

Gnutella isn't the only new kid on the block waiting to step into Napster's shoes if the RIAA cartel succeeds in its quest to shut Napster down.

Irish software developer Ian Clarke is working on a program called Freenet, designed to facilitate the acquisition and/or exchange of computer files over the Internet anonymously, while blocking information from third parties attempting to determine its source. Clarke expressed confidence that attempts to develop technologies to encrypt information and halt free sharing of computer data will fail.

"I have two words for these companies: give up," Mr. Clarke told John Markoff of the New York Times last week. "There is no way they are going to stop these technologies. They are trying to plug holes in a dam that is about to burst."

A tip of the hat to Applelinks reader Grant Keely, Ringmaster of the Boise Musician's Web Ring, who brought my attention to the paylars.com Website.

Charles W. Moore

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August 28, 2008