napster will be shut down. bad news, indeed. however, this won't stop the development of similar tools or the evolution of music commerce to a next stage. i just hate the pathos that is now being built around "good artists" and "bad music industry" (you bad, bad music industry, you!).

it is close to hypocrisy someone daring to ask the artists "we haven't heard much from you. why?". it was a greed for comfort, paired with the unappeasable need of stardom, an ignorant behaviour, that gave so much power to the music market. most of us went to the big music stores instead to the local dealers. far too many rely on zeitgeist reviews about music and concerts defining their musical taste. and there is a general disinterest about everything that is different from mainstream (which also leads to mainstreaming the underground).

subversive drifts – they are here, everywhere. with or without napster. but if one does not care, it certainly remains invisible. and most of the listeners, concert goers and music buyers simply do not care anymore. it's almost ridiculous to use "artist" as a word for the music makers (the dreamers of the dream). musicians are rather traded as icons on posters, role models in commercials (so-called video clips) and headlines in the yellow press than people creating art. which is definitely also a mistake by the music industry. but did they not react on our attitude? did not we (and the artists themselves) silently accept each of their turns to gain more "power" – on both sides? did we not pay even the steadily increasing prices for cds, concert tickets and memorabilia? are we not pretty consumers and are they not beloved seducers building a nice couple believing to fulfill each other's desires?

now everything turns out to be wrong. all wrong. those who still visit the tiny little record store at the other end of the city (unless it has gone bancrupt) knew it all the time. high fidelity.

we won't impress those who have to judge about the idea of napster (not to mention the music industry) with our inabilities to take responsibility for and keep some track of truth to ourselves. if it is not my cup of tea to care about music, i should be mature enough to admit.

music on the net is the unstoppable sex machine at the moment. and if we are lucky it will make up for some of our lapses.