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7
the industry

IN EARLY 2000, NAPSTER EXECUTIVES WERE SQUABBLING over how much money and effort should be spent trying to win the hearts of pop bands. CEO Eileen Richardson wanted to do the most. She envisioned a New Artist Program that would encourage users to sample unknown groups and bolster Napster's court defense about having significant legitimate uses, the same argument that had saved the VCR before the U.S. Supreme Court. The allegiance of fan favorites could keep the public on Napster's side of the war in the press and on Capitol Hill, if it came to that. And open support from established acts might bring pressure on the record companies to offer something reasonable. But Richardson and her marketing deputy, Liz Brooks, were the only top executives serious about the campaign. Brooks got Napster to sponsor the free Limp Bizkit tour to promote the company, and later she offered the band warrants to buy 2 percent of the company, appealing to something

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