Unless you were living under a rock during February you couldn't have missed any of the news regarding Napster and the decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to stay the injunction against the online file swapping service. In a fifty-eight page opinion the three-judge panel ruled that "Napster may be held liable for contributory copyright infringement only to the extent that Napster knows of specific infringing files with copyrighted musical compositions or sound recordings, knows or should have known that the files are available on the Napster system, and fails to act to prevent the distribution of copyrighted materials," and sent the case back to the lower court from hence it came, ordering U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel to re-write her original injunction against the company, which the court deemed "overly broad."

Judge Patel has scheduled a hearing on the injunction, which was originally ordered in July of 2000, for Friday, March 2, and it is generally believed by the legal community that Napster will be forced to stop allowing the online trade of songs that can be identified by their owners as copyrighted material.

Between the Ninth Court's ruling and Judge Patel's impending rewrite of the injunction, Napster has been busy courting the record industry with a $1 billion settlement deal in the hopes that they would drop their copyright infringement lawsuits. Under the terms of the proposal, Napster would pay out $150 million a year over five years to the Big Five (Universal, Warner, BMG, Sony, and EMI), with $50 million a year going to independent labels. Last word was that industry representatives had no interest in Napster's offer. And amidst all of that, Napster has been working with Bertelsmann AG (who formed a "strategic alliance" with Napster in 2000) on implementing a secure, fee-based digital subscription service due to be up and running sometime this summer.

Whether Napster gets death by lethal injection or death by a firing squad, it seems unavoidable that the days of free downloads are short indeed. And while the record industry pats itself on the back for their huge victory, and Napster fans hurriedly fill up their hard drives before the well runs dry, it's important to remember that Napster is not the first nor the last file swapping service, and as long as there are music fans with deft computer skills, they will always be one step ahead of the industry in finding free ways to get their music fix.

RIAA Claims Napster Hurt Sales

And in another Napster related occurrence in February (who else here thinks February was far too short of a month to have this much go on?) the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claimed that Napster's file-swapping service helped lead to a thirty-nine percent decline in CD single sales in the year 2000, claiming it as irrefutable evidence that Napster is harming the recording industry...or at least its sales. Earpollution posits the notion that, with little exception, there wasn't shit for music in the popular market segment worth buying in 2000 in the first place.

Dial House Update

As we reported last month the Dial House, a community based arts and media center and longtime home to UK anarchists Crass, was doomed to face new owners on the auction block. However, in a kind turn of luck Crass is happy to report that the individual who bought the house at the auction (for £158,000) has agreed to sell the house back to Dial House residents at cost price. The deal was formally signed on February 20, and house members are busy organizing benefits and fund raisers to raise funds and pay off the house within three years. After making some much needed repairs to the house (which they were banned from doing by the previous owner) Crass plan on creating the Dial House Foundation, a dedicated center for alternative globalization, with the hopes of having a defined schedule of workshops and events by year's end.

It seems that you really can get by on the kindness of strangers, and we'd like to wish Crass and the Dial House the best of luck.

R.I.P. Dale Evans

Rest in peace Dale Evans, the Queen of the West, who passed away at the age of eighty-eight in early February at her home in California. Evans, married to the late Roy Rogers, was the most popular actress/singer ever in Western films, and wrote the couple's theme song, "Happy Trails."

R.I.P. John Fahey

Rest in peace John Fahey, eccentric American guitar genius whose approach to acoustic playing influenced a generation of musicians. Best known as the "Godfather of New Age Guitar," Fahey released over thirty albums on a variety of labels, and fearlessly explored acoustic experimentation while staying close to this traditional roots music he loved. Fahey died after slipping into a coma following open heart surgery. He was sixty-one.

Syd Barrett Song Uncovered

"Bob Dylan's Blues," a song by Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett and recorded during a February, 1970, demo session but never released, has been slated to finally see the light this coming April in the UK on a new compilation entitled Wouldn't You Miss Me. A tongue-and-cheek take on the folk legend using Dylan's talking vocal style and loose finger-picking guitar playing, the song was released form the archives of current Floyd frontman David Gilmour, who helped Barrett with recording sessions after Barrett left the band in the late '60s. It is reported that Gilmour speaks very highly of the song, which was first written in 1963 after Barrett saw Dylan perform in London and, according to Pink Floyd music publisher Peter Barnes is "one of Syd's very earliest songs, written before he even had a publishing deal."

Barrett, who was the genius behind the early psychedelic success of Pink Floyd, and who has influenced countless artists including the likes of Robyn Hitchcock, quietly left Pink Floyd in 1968 after suffering a mental breakdown due, in large part, to heavy drug use. With the help of Gilmour and former Floyd bassist/lyricist Roger Waters, Barrett recorded two albums in the early '70s, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, later taking up residence in his mother's home in Cambridge to live out his days in quiet isolation. It's been rumored that Barrett now suffers from diabetes.

Black Sabbath Return to Ozzfest Lineup

Just not able to get enough of a good thing, it was announced in February that Black Sabbath will be reforming once again to headline this year's Ozzfest. The Godfathers of Heavy Metal will be joined on the Main Stage by Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, and Disturbed. Start limbering up your devil signs...

Afghan Whigs Calls It Quits

Soul rockers Afghan Whigs have called it a day after fourteen years and six albums. With band members stretched over several states and frontman Greg Dulli spending more time focusing on his new project, The Twilight Singers, what "long kept the band fresh, began to work against them," the band said in a statement. Never able to obtain mainstream success, the Whigs however had a steadfast cult following with their albums receiving critical acclaim. "[We] remain friends and, apart from the often cruel and unsentimental banter between members, still plan to call each other on holidays."

Thieves Are Scum (Stolen Sophtware Slump Remix)

While finishing up a string of UK dates those lovable, bearded boys in Grandaddy sadly announced that before a gig at Bristol University February 2, their manager's AppleMac Powerbook laptop and a cellphone was stolen from the band's dressing room while a bottle of Jack Daniels was left untouched. The laptop has two serial numbers, SWV70102 and PN601-0855-8, and the casing is reported to be scratched with the screen having a small crack in the bottom left corner.

Thieves Are Scum (Dallas Hotel Parking Lot Blues Remix)

Mystick Krewe of Clearlight were forced to cancel the remainder of their current tour when they found their band's trailer was broken into and all their gear stolen while parked in a Dallas hotel parking lot. On tour with Corrosion of Conformity, Clutch, and Spirit Caravan, the Krewe had two weeks of dates left to go. Those inclined to helping out the band in any way, shape or form, or those having any information on the whereabouts of the band's equipment will receive beaucoup karma points by e-mailing tony@teepeerecords.com, or going to Tee Pee's website.

Quote of the Month

40 Years Missing!

To the Editor of the New York Times:

Regarding Ken Burns's (or is it Wynton Marsalis'?) Jazz: Now that we've been put through the socioeconomic racial forensics of a jazz-illiterate historian and a self-imposed jazz expert prone to sophomoric generalizations and ultraconservative politically correct (for now) utterances, not to mention a terribly heavy-handed narration (where every detail takes on the importance of major revelation) and weepy-eyed nostalgic reveries, can we have some films about jazz by people who actually know and understand the music itself and are willing to deal comprehensively with the last 40 years of this richest of American treasures? --Keith Jarrett, New York.

Craig Young
Editor, Earpollution