“The original ‘bad’ Napster was sued by a consortium of labels in 2000 but BMG parent Bertelsmann loaned the company USD $60m in October of that year to develop a commercial version of its service, then a further $26m to help with legal costs in exchange for equity. In 2001 Bertelsmann provided another USD $25m; and in 2002 Napster became the property of the German firm. It proved costly: Bertelsmann ended up shelling out USD $60m to Universal, $110m to Warner, $100m to EMI and $130m to the National Music Publishers Association.
Music :) Ally
ps. All those numbers add up to $511 million dollars
(via gtmcknight)
(via artistspaid)
