Executives from Napster and Bertelsmann are appealing to other record company executives for a temporary stay of litigation, claiming a Napster shutdown would harm the possibility of potential profits for everyone.
Napster has presented a new plan that would change the free service into a tiered subscription service as early as July and would guarantee $150 million per year to be split between the five major record companies and another $50 million annually to be shared by independent labels. The labels would be responsible for distributing the funds to artists and songwriters.
The projected service allowing limited numbers of downloads per month would likely cost between $2.95 and $4.95 per month, while an unlimited download service would likely cost $5.95 to $9.95.
Originally Published
