Jari Ketola
29 Sep 2001 2:17
Napster has settled a pending lawsuit with American songwriters and music publishers. With the settlement Napster has agreed to pay songwriters $26 million plus a portion of its future revenues.
U.S. District court Judge Marilyn Patel, the plaintiffs and the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) Board of Directors still have approve the agreement, but according to Napster and NMPA representatives, the process should be a mere formality.
Even though Napster still hasn't settled the recording industry's ligitation, Napster CEO Konrad Hilber is confident the service will be back by the end of the year. He also believes that even though there are free music download services available Napster would still succeed as a subscribtion service -- not least because of it's well-known brand name.