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FREE FOR ALL?

Cat Scratch Thiever
Hey Napster, get your greasy paws off my intellectual property.

BY TED NUGENT
Tuesday, March 13, 2001 12:01 a.m. EST

My younger brother Johnny and I rounded the corner of the vast parking lot outside the concert arena
and immediately spotted the greasy hippie with the huge bag slung over his arm. Brothers Nuge looked
at each other with a gleam in our rock 'n' roll eyes and stated in unison, like military commandos:
"Bogie, 12 o'clock!"

We approached the young man at a steady gait, stepping past his three or four customers. Though I
had my hair pulled back tight in a ponytail, he looked confused. Still, we figured he had to recognize
me, given that he was selling Ted Nugent T-shirts at a sold-out Ted Nugent concert.

We surrounded him and told him that he could not sell shirts with my name and photograph on them. It
was illegal, unfair and unacceptable. At this point Johnny and I yanked the canvas bag of merchandise
and cash from his grasp and departed, returning backstage to hand out the cheap imported booty to
friends, crew members and charities. I used some as rags to clean my guns.

We relentlessly repeated this across America for years, determined to stop the unjust bootleg
merchandising of my copyrighted image. We ran into occasional resistance, but it never deterred me
from taking what was rightfully mine. Even on ABC television I faced threats from some punk who
thought he was dealing with just another pushover dope-smoking hippie band that he could rip off with
impunity. Hell, I hunt grizzly bears with a bow and arrow. Bring it on, greaseballs!

I didn't need anyone to explain to me whether selling or giving away other people's products without
their permission was the right thing to do. Common sense is alive and well in America if you're not
stoned, drunk, greedy or just plain stupid. To think that anyone could even argue that Napster has
the right to give away an artist's product is ridiculous.

Hey, I have a good idea! I'll just stand outside the local grocery store and offer its food free to the
public. It doesn't matter if the owner took the risk, pays all the taxes and overhead, struggles with a
bureaucratic land-mine field of regulations and laws, invests his warrior work ethic in bucketsful of
sweat day after day, and basically busts his butt to provide a quality service and jobs for the
community. Hell, no. I'll just make that decision for him, thank you, and give away his products and
hard-earned money. Who does he think he is anyway?

The same applies to recording artists. We invest sweat and blood and millions of dollars creating
musical products. It takes years of insane sacrifice and grueling tour schedules and intense effort. To
think a third party should be allowed to give away our product for zero compensation is brain-dead
and un-American.



The Recording Industry Association of America attributes a 39% drop in shipments of compact-disk
singles in 1999 to this Internet downloading system. Full-length CD sales also dropped dramatically. In
the short amount of time Napster has been in front of the courts, its users have grown from a few
thousand to more than 50 million. Thank God common sense is still operating in the Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals, which recently ruled Napster must stop providing unauthorized music.

Artists--or grocers for that matter--who wish to give away their own merchandise or services as a
promotional or marketing scheme can have at it. But on any legal or intellectual level, only that
individual can legitimately make the decision. Artists and record companies already give away an
enormous amount of free goods. No one outside that business circle should dare to do it for them and
expect to get away with it.

Facing a runaway freight train of technology, we in the industry are moving to upgrade the quality of
music delivery while also protecting copyrights, intellectual property rights and freedom of speech.
With the book and motion-picture industries also susceptible to the sort of pirating Napster
encourages, these communities will increasingly have to fight with us if they are to protect their
futures.

There is no reason for allowing intellectual property to enrich lives without payment to the artist or
business team. I'm just an ol' guitar player, but surely what is fair is fair. I'll leave the mind-boggling
technology to the experts, but if I want bread, I'm going to pay the baker.

Mr. Nugent is a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. SpitFire Records will soon release his latest album,
"Full Bluntal Nugity."



Brad
ORC Land Use Section Editor
http://www.off-road.com/land
Vice-Pres. Rock Garden 4 Wheelers, Farmington, NM
http://rockgarden.rockcrawler.com

<font color=purple>As usual, Ted is spot-on. Unfortunately, I've been unable to find some songs through legal channels (retail, clubs, OR on-line) & have recently had a friend download some things from Napster for me. I'd gladly pay for this stuff if I could find it anywhere else [img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/frown.gif[/img]. </font color=purple>

TEX

http://sites.netscape.net/gumboracing

I don't think its right but I still get some music..but almost all of it cannot be found it records stores..or any in this state at least [img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Personally I think the drop in record sales was due to the crappy music people are putting out now adays!Boy it sucks..I rarely listen to the radio anymore

1976 CJ5
SWB BBS Member Page!(exclamation)
http://www.shortwheelbase.com

I don't use Napster b/c you have to know what you want in order to download something. What's the point other than theft. I do download music though. I do this from other people's collections. I usually download stuff I've never heard of. Now I am facing the downside of finding really cool stuff and wanting the CD. Besides...MP3s are condensed music and loose quality in doing so...
So, napster...I don't care. I don't think that making Napster act better will help at all. What they need to do is what the DVD guys are starting to do...work with the computer makers to put electronic protection on the DVDs...though that makes me unhappy too...if I buy something and want a copy...aw heck I give up...

Fritz


Jeep...need I say more?

I have bought MORE music because of Napster! That may sound funny but I'll hear a really good song on the radio, have to have it for myself and download it from Napster. Then after listening to it a few times (usually not more than a week) I will go out and buy the CD. I had been normally buying 2-3 CD's a year (yes, per year!) and now it seems I am buying a new disc everytime I get paid!
Joey may be right about the crappy music that "Artist" are recording lately, I think it also has to do with all of the artists and record labels getting anal about us being able to get their music for free. Didn't you used to copy your friends albums on to cassette (or 8-track) ? Why didn't they get all worked up about that?
Sorry for rambling, I respect Ted Nugents opinion, and I do see where he is comming from. I'll probably even buy his new CD without the luxury of previewing it through Napster.

Mike H.
1983 CJ-7 Laredo, The body is on the frame now!!!

supply and demand. you charge people $16 for a piece of plastic that costs $0.15 to make and they're gonna be pissed off. Why were CDs so much more expensive than tapes for so many years? TAPES ARE MORE EXPENSIVE TO MAKE! screw them. I'm getting what I want and when I find someone good I'll buy their CD. I'm already stuck with too may albums of crap music that only had 1 or 2 good singles anway. What about all those runined tapes and CDs over the years? I gaurented I have bought EVERY Metalica album at least twice (except for the latest symphony one). Music should be like how videogames are. As long as you own the game you can have another copy of it. Just like Nintendo ROMs on the PC and just like backing up Playstation games. And if you don't own it you have 24 hours to erase it.

I guess I gotta pee in the pool...NAPSTER IS THEFT! There's NO reason to STEAL a product that took money to produce, and that the artist RIGHTLY expects compensation for. If you don't like the price of CDs, DON'T BUY THEM. But STEALING music should be against the law!
Has the quest for personal liberty gone so far that we think it's alright to STEAL a product because we think the price is too high??
JMO

'86 CJ-7, 360, 727, OEM Dana 44 rear w/Truetrac, Dana 30 w/Powertrax No-Slip, 4" Superlift, 4:11s, Warn HS9500i

So we shouldn't be able to record a song from the radio? It's free and it's the same thing.

I liked Napster (but never used it), and I don't see it as stealing. I see it as advertising. I WILL NOT go out and buy a whole CD based on one song, and you can't listen to the songs without buying the CD, see the circular reference? As a result, I won't buy the CD. If they really want to improve the site and make Napster work FOR the music industry, allow Napster to continue, but put out diluted music, stuff that sounds OK, but not nearly like buying the CD. I'd listen to the songs, then want the good version so I can blast it while the top is off, and buy the CD. How about all those 80's songs (Like Black cars, 1982) that I like that are just plain ole' NOT available anymore. I like some stuff the Radio Stations don't even remember. If they want to stop the theft as well, make all the songs available to us through the market, right now they're not.

JEEPN
Winter Harbor, Maine
'81 CJ-8 Scrambled!
It's a Jeep, Chevy, IHC kinda thing!

<font color=purple>Joey, I was thinking the same thing you said about crappy music. Look at who the top bands are right now - they all pander to the pre-teen set. Few years back, the most "popular" music was what the 18-24 year-olds listened to. That's who BUYS music. 12-year-olds don't have enough cash to fuel the market.

You know, as "right" as the music industry is to moan about Napster, maybe it's time they took advantage of the technology themselves. Start selling stuff online. And after a song becomes 5 years old, consumers should have the option of going online, creating a "custom" CD from various artists & recordings, and paying a reasonable fee to have it produced & shipped to them. If I could pick all my favorite songs, I'd gladly pay $2 per song to have them on a CD mix of my liking. Assuming 10 songs per CD, I'd be paying $20 for a CD of stuff that's not even "hot" anymore. Stuff you find in the $7.99 bargain bins - if it's even AVAILABLE anywhere. Why wouldn't the industry jump all over that?

And as mentioned, I & many others weren't even able to FIND some of the stuff I was willing to pay for through legal channels. And MOST of that was stuff I already HAD bought previously on vinyl. So, yeah I got stuff from Napster & I KNOW it's wrong. So to those of you in the industry - listen up! I'll pay for it, just make it available to me.</font color=purple>

TEX

http://sites.netscape.net/gumboracing

Is it irony or hypocrisy to listen to some guy that screams about his individual freedom being sacred do a 180 when others use their freedom in a manner he doesn't agree with?

I have no problem with the artists being compensated for their material. It makes sense and most people who enjoy the music would be happy to comply if there was an easy method to do so (paypal????). There is actually some legal issues that come into play though. It is legal to make copies of audio tapes and give them to friends under the audio home recording act. The main issue is on whether napster complies with the Digital millienium copyright act. Essentially, the DMCA says that napster would have to be directly involved in the copyright infringement to be liable (not just a software system that allows it to happen). To the Nuge, I would say that napster is like one of your handguns..napster doesn't infringe on copyrights, people do Finally, I find it disturbing that the artists, who could potentially use something like this to seperate themselves from the corporate media giants are standing beside them. Especially since there is a lawsuit against the main media corps for price fixing CD's over the past decade. Hearing stuff like that, in combination with the fact that the artists themselves only make a small amount of money from cd sales allows me to sleep well at night while listening to my several gigabytes of napster obtained tunes.

just my 2 cents..oh yeah I just went and downloaded a bunch of ted nugent
Jay