Napster announces subscription fee

By Oliver Goggi

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THE days of downloading free music from the net could soon be over as� Napster tells of its intention to charge users for its service. Napster's chief� executive, Hank Barry, announced at the World Econonmic Forum in Davos, Switerland that users will soon be charged a membership fee. Barry also said royalties would be paid to artists whose music is downloaded over the internet via Napster.

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Napster has become one of the most visited sites on the web and its software has been downloaded and installed an estimated 57 million times.

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The whole thing works by allowing users to download digital music tracks from each others' computers free of charge.� However, following legal wranglings and the threat of closure by some of the world's largest record companies, the internet venture signed a deal with German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, late last year - a step towards a less controversial future and into the corporate world.

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'I'm convinced we can introduce in June or July a subscription model, with a real working digital rights management system,' said Thomas Middelhoff, Bertelsmann chief executive. While the head of the company's e-commerce unit, Andreas Schmidt, said Bertelsmann was in talks with other music companies, and some could join the Bertelsmann-Napster service within a matter of weeks.

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The music industry's opposition to the rapid growth of the Napster community, revolves around its fear of losing music sales, while artists lose out on royalties. Hence it is thought a membership fee�will be brought in as early as possible, although nothing official has been announced.

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In the meantime Napster still faces lawsuits from a number of record companies.

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