Twenty-five years ago (June 1), the music world changed with the original release of Napster
On June 1, 1999, Shawn Fanning told his friends about a new program he’d written. “It allows people to share songs on their computer with others over the internet. Try it out but don’t tell anyone, okay?”
No one could keep a secret and within months Napster–Shawn’s nickname because of his nappy hair–was being used by hundreds of thousands of people. Within a year, it threatened the viability of the entire music industry.
Napster was eventually sued out of existence, of course, but the music industry would never be the same.
