rut \ \ Napster to charge for services by Erin McCarty assitant news editor Napster, the online music service which provides free downloads of songs and other audio material to approximately 57 million users, has announced that it will soon initiate a fee for its services. This announce ment follows Napster’s purchase by the German media company Bertelsmann last year. Thomas Middelhoff, president of Bertelsmann, has revealed that he intends to implement the new sub scription plan by June or July. Though no specific price has been given, a monthly fee of $lO-$ 15 is most likely being considered. In only two years, Napster has grown to be one of the most-used services on the internet. It has also become one of the most hotly de bated. The company was sued for copyright infringement by a dozen In the year 2001... Somc of iht note 1 fere'set heads-up oi events to check out Holliday music in cool Maxwell’s new album West Indian/Puerto Rican soul singer Maxwell (his middle name), who has suffered a career of tri umph and turmoil, is calling his new album simply Now. “It’s kind of reflective of where I’m at now,” he explains. “I wanted to make an eclectic record. There’s not just one kind of vibe to it.” Maxwell, 27, admits that the bittersweet tone in some of the songs stems from a rocky romance. The singer was born in Brooklyn in May of 1973 and began playing music when he was just 17 years old. Columbia Records snatched him up while he was playing the New York club scene. Maxwell has ‘Save the Last Dance’...for me by Susan John staff writer A country girl stops two-steppin’ and learns the attitude of hip-hop. Save the Last Dance, directed by Thomas Carter, is a touching romantic story that teaches us that although the fight might not always be an easy option, we cannot just give in to failure. We have to live our dreams. Sara, played by Julia Stiles, is a country girl from Illinois who has a dream to dance ballet at New York s Julliard School of Dance. She is in pursuit of her dream when after an unusual twist of fate she loses her mother and is forced to move from the comfort of her small town to Chicago’s Southside with her father who is a struggling jazz musician. After the Movies Hannibal Saving Silverman Feb. 9 Arts & Entertainment companies last year. Middelhoff hopes that this new fee will satisfy Napster’s opponents. He predicts that it will please Napster’s users, relying on a survey of 25,000 Napster users in which 70 percent indicated that they would be will ing to pay to dowload music. Thus far, only the independent record la bel TVT has dropped its case against Napster. In the wake of this new develop ment, Gnutella, another prominent downloading site, is attempting to make itself the premier service for dowloading free music. Although the system is currently characterized by maddeningly slow connections and boasts only one million users, Gnutella executive J. C. Nicholas promises that a major upgrade is on the way. His confidence about the unveiling of Gnutella2 is such that he says it will be “one of the great est revolutions since Linux.” most notable fiiv'/ects due oat tb/s war come off the now revolutionized the world of soul music using his romantic and seduc tive sounds. He has followed in the tradition of Smokey Robinson’s suave yet subtle swooning and Prince’s demented sexual wails. Maxwell’s debut album. Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite , was released in April 1996. However, he had to idly watch as his record com pany sat on his debut album for a year, ignoring his traditional soul style. Instead, Columbia Records seemed to be more in favor of the influenced singers dominating the R&B charts. When the record was finally re leased, it immediately was both a TMS Campus Julia Stiles in Save the Last Dance. tragic death of her mother, Sara’s dream to dance also dies. K&l&i Video * No New Releases Of course, even if Gnutella were to become more user-friendly, it could not likely avoid the legal ramifications that Napster has al ready faced. Gnutella officials seem confident that the decentralized na ture of their program would make it impossible for it to be shut down by the courts. The peer-to-peer network is capable of transferring all types of files, not just music, so it may be more than record companies upset with Gnutella once Napster has sat isfied their demands. It remains to be seen whether Gnutella has the technology to ef fectively replace Napster and whether it will be able to get away with it, but for the time being Napster’s revolution looms on the horizon. If the new arrangement is acceptable to the artists, then the real test of Napster’s survival will be whether it will remain as popu lar after charging for its services. Hy Krh'thj $ critical and commercial success. Rolling Stone magazine voted Max well Best R&B artist of the year, while Urban Hang Suite was nomi nated for a Grammy. At the 11th Annual Soul Train Awards in March of 1997, Maxwell was the main man. He won both Best Male R&B/Soul Album and Single (for Ascension), and best R&B/Soul or Rap New Art ist. That same month “Urban Hang Suite” went platinum. Maxwell’s sophomore album was Embrya, released in the summer of ’9B. It also proved to be a commer cial success. Since then, Maxwell has produced a slew of smash hit singles. As Sara is learning to adjust to the new town and her new life, she meets Chenille, played by Kerry Washington, who tries to teach her how to survive in a tough town. Chenille gives Sara her first taste of hip-hop when she takes her to a club called Stepps. Sara can talk the talk, but can she walk the walk? Derek, played by Sean Patrick Thomas, is Chenille’s brother who has a dream to go to medical school and make a better life for himself. He challenges Sara to prove that she has all of the right moves at the club. Quickly they both learn that not only do they have a passion to dance, but also a passion for each other. Derek pushes Sara to fight for her dream and not to give up. Together they have to overcome many obstacles to achieve their dreams. They learn that Music* Project Pat Run DMC: Crown Royal Napster founder Shawn Fanning, donning a Metallica T-Shirt. Metallica’s Lars Ulrich helped bring the controversial music sharing system to the courts. Eminem’s proteges, Dl2 Eminem, aka “Slim Shady,” has taken on a non-music project-his friends back home. The now fa mous rapper will be working on producing an album for his former group and long time “boyz,” Dl2. Composed of MC’s Proof, Bi zarre, Von, Denine, and Swift, the Dl2, which stands for “Dirty Dozen,” recently signed on to Eminem’s new label, an offshoot of his deal with Interscope Records. The five rappers knew the real Marshall Mathers back when Eminem rapped with them in De troit. The group made a pact that if any of them were successful, they would come back and help the rest of them. Dl2’s debut album is entitled Devil's Night. The first single, Purple Pill , is due out this month. The label, Shady Records, will debut with the Dl2 record, along with other groups that Eminem has been scouting. they have a difficult fight when they are faced with resentment from friends and family. They also learn that they have to look past each other’s differences. In the end, they find that the only person you have to be true to is yourself. Overall I felt that the movie brought up good points to an increasingly controversial issue. Today, more than ever, we are faced with dealing with these types of situations. Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas mixed together well in their roles, and I felt that they worked well as a couple. The movie made me think about the world today and how people are constantly judging others. One thought, especially, that came to my mind as I left the theater was... you can not choose who you fall in love with or else it would not be called “falling in love.” DVD* Bless the Child Bring It On Em Fid( by Deanna Symoski Thinking Out Loud Did TV make them do it? The death occurred in Florida when then-12-year-old Lionel Tate kicked, stomped, and pummeled, a six-year-old playmate as he imitated professional wrestlers. He was found guilty January 25 of murder in the first degree and now faces life in prison. The severe burning happened only four days later in Connecticut when 13- year-old Jason Lind doused his legs and feet with lighter fluid then lit himself on fire in an attempt to mimic a stunt performed on MTV s Jackass. At press time, the boy was listed in critical but stable condition at Shriner s Hospital for Children in Boston. Lind’s playmate was charged with reckless endangerment and referred to juvenile court. The two incidents, hauntingly similar, have once again raised questions about the entertainment content of television programming, but take note. Unlike my other editorials, which are full of astute observations and insightful analysis, this editorial will be devoid of those things, because finally, I have no answers. All I know is that my knee-jerk reactions to each scenario differed greatly and so inspired a little introspection. I like wrestling. Part spectacle, part soap opera, I appreciate the grand entertainment aspect of each event. To blame the forum for someone s reckless actions was, to me, blatant scapegoating —a foundation on which more and more trials are based. Guilt no longer constitutes a sentence if you can beat the rap. But the jury, like me, didn’t buy the blame shifting and found Tate, not professional wrestling, responsible for Tate’s actions. Score one for justice. Then on the heels of that verdict comes Jason Lind. Immediately I condemn Jackass for its ethical irresponsibility and moral deprivation. How can a program with no redeeming value be allowed to remain on the air, and how can MTV possess such great arrogance about the consequences the show invokes? 1 don’t like Jackass. But my own hypocrisy was soon apparent and I realized the conundrum of the Constitutional right of Freedom of Speech. Just because 1 dislike Jackass does not make it anymore responsible for Lind’s actions than wrestling accounts for Tate’s. Fortunately for the rest of you, my ability to control programming is only as powerful as the juice in the batteries in my remote control. Just because I find a show to be completely void of redeeming value does not give me the power to yank it off the air. It affords no one else that opportunity either. Those who find wrestling deplorable are not deemed the right to pull it from television either, thus saving my teenage brother the tragedy of a Monday night with no RAW. So despite my opinion of Jackass, I agree that it should be protected under the principles of Freedom of Speech. However, then, a different question is begged. If these shows are out there and potentially harmful, who is responsible for keeping that harm from coming to fruition? We’ll deal with parents first, since that seems the likeliest answer. Tate’s mother is a Florida Highway Patrol trooper; not the kind of person one would envision neglecting her child. However on the day in question, she was babysitting the six-year-old girl and fell asleep, leaving her in the hands of Tate. I used to baby-sit, and if the kids were awake then so was I. Lind’s father placed at least some of the blame on Jackass, but one must wonder where he was when his son walked out the door with lighter fluid in one hand and matches in the other. Parents will say that they can’t watch their children at all times, and to their credit, they can’t. Thirteen-year olds are especially difficult, I predict, because they are lost in the limbo between imitation and common sense. But parents don’t have to be present physically to do their job and protect their children. An open dialogue about the shows children watch may go along way in impeding tragedies like these. Discussing stupidity may just prevent it. I can’t, however, completely discount the two other parties. The children who perform these tasks may not have the complete cognitive ability to grasp the complexities of life, but they must know that beating someone will hurt them and lighting yourself on fire will hurt you. From the time kids can walk, they are told not to touch the stove because it’s hot. Is that fundamental understanding lost after one episode of bad TV? Perhaps. In the wake of this rash of incidents, bad TV is getting a wake up call. Obviously the evidence suggests that, for whatever the reason, certain television is having an adverse effect on the actions of adolescents. In the end, not one of these entities can be held completely responsible, for the combination of them all foster carelessness. Television cannot simply call attention to their disclaimers and wash their hands of the situation. Nobody, however, can account for the sheer stupidity that a cross section of the population will always possess, regardless of age. It wasn’t long ago that the football film, The Program, inspired college students to lay down in traffic just to see what would actually happen. Death is what happened and everyone blamed the film instead of those who just should have known better. Rules, laws, even good parenting can do nothing for those without the common sense it takes to get through life safely. That isn’t my fault or yours, the industry’s or the parents’. So, as promised, I have given you no pearls of wisdom or great philosophy. This week, 1 was just giving you a topic. Go ahead, talk amongst yourselves. n h r;n U\! "* ' M•: .-u < )N FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9,2001
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