According to reports by Jupiter Media Metrix, the number of unique users accessing song-swapping applications in Australia has increased slightly in the months following Napster's demise.
Napster was shut down in July after a legal crackdown by music industry trade group the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Industry experts predicted its groumding would lead to the demise of song-swapping applications overall.
However, figures released by Jupiter Media Metrix indicate that such a demise has not occurred, and that the momentum of this song-swapping craze has been maintained.
Results show a combined total of 869,000 unique users accessed song-swapping applications in Australia in July 2001, while 872,000 unique users accessed these applications in September, 2001.
This is largely due to the emergence of new applications on the market, which took up the slack left by Napster's grounding.
Where Napster fell from 605,000 unique users in July to 344,000 in September, applications such as AudioGalaxy Satellite and winmx entered the Jupiter Media Metrix statistics for the first time this year in the months of August and September, respectively. In September, the applications boasted 195,000 and 78,000 unique users respectively.
Also responsible for the maintenance of this momentum was the increased use of established MusicCity Morpheus, with its unique users rising from 132,000 in July to 255,000 in September 2001.
According to David Stewart-Hunter, senior analyst with Jupiter Media Metrix, these results were not that unexpected, given the sheer demand for product that exists within the song-swapping space.
"Even if one source is blocked off, other sources will arise to meet consumer demand," said Stewart-Hunter.
He also believes the rise in users to Napster's competitors is due, in part, to the perceived legality associated with these alternatives. Napster is a file-sharing application, hosted on a central server and therefore liable for copyright infringements. However, most of the alternatives are peer-to-peer networks, which enable users to make their own decisions to share music with others, therefore placing the onus squarely on the consumers' shoulders.
"Individuals are in effect, making decisions to share their music with other individuals. There is no central server which can be legislated against or controlled," said Stewart-Hunter.
As Napster begins its journey towards subscription-based services, it is widely believed that this will prompt users to take up the options offered by the Napster alternatives on the market.
Stewart-Hunter shares this belief, stating that "As long as the other three remain free, it would seem logical outcome for people to go to the others. I think Napster (the application) and Napster.com will dwindle further and we will see other applications growing."
He does not share similar concerns about the overall demise of the song-swapping market.
"There are too many applications and too many new technologies being developed to provide what the customer wants, [for this market] to be completely regulated out of existence," said Stewart-Hunter.
Additional reporting by Reuters
