How the lessons of Napster can save news from AI

Part one: The music and Hollywood exec who helped negotiate the pivot that saved music reveals how the strategy can now help publishing with AI...

In 1999, an earthquake hit the music industry. Two renegade college kids hacked code to create Napster, changing music and the digital economy forever.

More than $10 billion was wiped out, and musicians went to war, while 26 million delighted music fans piled into piracy’s frontrunner, and loved what they found.

What’s an industry to do when a digital disrupter with zero responsibility drops an atom bomb into an internationally stable ecosystem that’s worked for half a century?

The crisis - and what happened next - bears startling similarities to the threat that publishers worldwide are facing from OpenAI, Perplexity, and others, today.

At the heart is flagrant copyright abuse, and the destruction of established business models, to break new ground for products that millions of consumers want.

Today, one of those closest to the Napster fight and fallout, joins me to share how music righted itself from its death dive with strategies that news can use today.

Napster, And The Lessons That Can Save News will run in multiple parts over the coming week.

In part one today, former BMG exec Scott Dinsdale shares how Napster emerged from his industry’s worst fears to wreak havoc.

Then, over the coming days, how Apple put a gun to the industry’s head, the unexpected ally that came to the rescue, and finally, the strategies that publishing can replicate with AI.

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Before we start, welcome to Future Media newsletter #268, and join me in saying hi to new subscribers over the weekend from UK publisher Reach, the Wall Street Journal in New York, Meerkat Media in Australia, The Sun in London, the strategy team at The Guardian, cookie-less ad solution Welect in Dusseldorf, technology PR SlicedBrand in Massachusetts, podcasters ContentGroup in Canberra, New Zealand producer qc.video, pitch perfectionists Yoodli AI in Seattle, NBC and ABC affiliate TV network Nonstoplocal across Eastern Washington, the Idaho Panhandle, and Montana, blockchain-based media platform PublishLab.com in Seoul, among others.

Thanks for joining 👋