Les: Napster. You know I think Im waiting for the dust to settle on Napster. I think Napster is a marvelous thing for the people and for the community but of course we all want to make a couple bucks at this thing, and so well see what happens. Ive been talking to a couple of the guys from Napster and Im excited about some of the things that they want to do.

Benjy: Well how do you feel about people trading Primus stuff?

Les: I say trade away! Send me some stuff. Actually send me some Sausage stuff. I havent heard any old Sausage stuff.

Benjy: What do you think of Napster?

Gutwillig: I find that the reasoning - bands 'need' Napster to spread their music - doesn't hold water. Bands have many avenues on the internet and in the world to spread their music whether for free or not. Napster removes the choice from the artist. Napster uses computer technology to justify breaking the laws designed to protect artists. This I find hard to swallow. If a person named 'Napster' came to your house copied all of your CDs and gave you copies of all his CDs (comprised of hundreds to millions of peoples collections) this person would be arrested immediately. Why is it that reproducing this on a computer makes it acceptable or legal? Also, Napster claims to not be earning income off of the artist. So if Napster is not earning income because of their service, then how does one explain their $2,000,000+ sponsorship of the Limp Bizkit tour? Money is exchanging hands on behalf of Napster and Napster's entire business is providing free artists' product. It sounds to me like they are profiting off of artists' labors without including them on the profits...I know I haven't received a check.
RUSS LAWTON, drummer - Gordon Stone Band, Trey Anastasios band

Benjy: What do you think of Napster?

Russ: I think if its the live thing, I believe its like sharing the tapes except its just a faster medium or something. But if its the fact that youre putting an album out and youre spending money to record in the studio, especially if youre a struggling new band - or any band - then its tough. Its like pirating. Some stuff should be for free and some stuff shouldnt, like if its on a label, or even if youre putting it out yourself. Live some people tape, but when its stuff like that its not fair. It really isnt, you know?

Benjy: What do you think of Napster?

Fuzz: I dont think its a bad thing. I think if its getting music out to a lot of people, thats a good thing. I think maybe what they should do is get permission from the people who they are taking it from first, because if some people dont approve of it and they dont like the idea of their music being distributed, whether its for monetary reasons or because they dont want certain pieces of their music distributed like that, then they should have the right to stop that process. Its acceptable I think for artists to say, I dont want to be on Napster. I dont want my music up there.
And I dont think it was wrong for any group to say, Oh, this is ripping us off or This is not right. If thats their prerogative they should be allowed to remove their stuff from Napster. But if other groups dont care then its a good thing. Let it get out there, you know?

Kang: I dont really have a view although I dont feel that its probably right for people toits good for trading music that the artists are willing to put out and trade, but if an artist doesnt want to put out music for free trade, I think its totally in the artists prerogative to not do so. Theres got to be some way where theres got to be permission obtained from the artist for that to happen. I think its an artists right to make a living off their music and if record sales are important to an artist which is important to some people more than others I would say its their prerogative to do what they wish with it.

Benjy: What about the person whos curious about a band and so they go on Napster to maybe download a song or two as a sample?

Kang: Thats already available and there are a lot of artists who do make it available for people to download songs. A lot of bands that I know of put MP3 files or something on their computer, so you can go directly to their website and download stuff off a site thats officially sanctioned by the band. But I think whats happening is that theres a lot of trading going on of things where people just dont want to buy the CD and are therefore able to get it for free and I dont feel that thats necessarily fair to the artist.

Although there is the dual sided argument - its like people are getting turned on to music that they might not get turned on to. I dont care if somebody goes on and downloads live shows of ours but if theyre downloading our albums, and passing around things that we might be selling, and potentially might impact our living, then I do care about that a little bit. But Im not going to go out and sue Napster about it either. Thats why we have Metallica. (laughs).

Benjy: What do you think of Napster?

Wooten: I think the technology is cool and I think at some point were going to find the right usages for it. I havent really done a lot of thinking about it but there is something to think about when there are people who are putting out products for sale, and then theres a place for people to just go get them for free. Theres some kind of morality issue that can be thought about there. And I dont know the answers. But I think the technology is a wonderful thing and hopefully well find a solution of the right way to use it that pleases everyone.

Benjy: What do you think of Napster?

Stanton: I think that in essence you know it can be a very cool thing in the fact that people can trade music. So I think as long as its music that we allow taping and a lot of bands allow taping so I think as far as trading live shows of bands that allow taping its a very cool thing. But when you get into the whole copyright infringement kind of thing where people are putting out records that should be bought through the store but people are putting them out through Napster then its a hairy situation, especially if the band hasnt chosen to allow that to happen. So, you know, if we choose to allow our music to be taped and be for people to hear then I think Napster is great because it gets people to hear all these shows that weve done and itll turn a lot of people onto our music and people can trade the music freely and I think thats good. But as far as the copyright infringement, I think if they can come up with a way to monitor that then itll be a cool thing. From what Ive read it seems like they cant really think offhand how to get that going. I dont know what it would take but I think it could be a cool thing as long its not infringing on things that artists dont want if an artist doesnt want his music on Napster then I think he should have the right to take it off or prohibit it from being done. But artists who allow that, I think thats great, you know?