I am an internet market researcher.

The research shows that people who use Napster buy MORE music than they did before they started using Napster.

That's the bottom line. Napster is possibly the GREATEST MARKETING TOOL for the music industry EVER. Because for right now, it is more like personalized radio than anything else.

If Napster charged $5/year to its 50 million users, it would take in $250M/year. It is offering the record industry $200M a year. What if they charged $5/month? They would take in $3 Billion!! Plenty of money to pay the artists.