(AllHipHop News) Jazzy Jeff supports music streaming services and calls pioneering music sharing site Napster “genius.”
The veteran turntablist, DJ and producer is a surprising advocate for music streaming as he’s also a big vinyl junkie.
Jazzy – real name Jeffrey Allen Townes – slammed the record industry for being “selfish” and short-sighted in moving to shut down the file sharing music site which was founded in 1999 by Shawn Fanning, John Fanning, and former President of Facebook, Sean Parker.
Napster was created as an independent peer-to-peer file sharing service, and its technology allowed people to easily share their MP3 files with other participants.
In an interview with British newspaper Metro, Jazzy shared:
“Napster was the most genius musical idea in the past 60 years. But our record industry was so selfish and was making so much money, it never looked at the idea itself and just shut it down, which I think was the biggest mistake in music.” Jazzy Jeff
“What it was doing was illegal but it was genius, so they should have incorporated it. I feel that streaming is just a normal progression of how we get music,” Jazzy Jeff stated.
Napster operated for just two years before it was shut down following a series of lawsuits from musicians and major record labels.
However, the brand survived after the company’s assets were liquidated and bought by other companies through bankruptcy proceedings.
Its legacy can be seen in the numerous paid for streaming businesses that have since been created such as Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal.
“I can spend $9 a month and any time a new album comes out I can just save it to my phone and have it offline. I’ve discovered a lot of music on SoundCloud. It’s like a worm hole,” the 51-year-old added.