This Movie About Napster Looks Awesome

Scapegoating Napster as the single trigger of the music industry’s downfall always seemed a bit short-sighted to me; if it hadn’t been Napster, someone else would’ve surely figured out how to share music digitally en masse sooner or later (most likely sooner). But Napster was definitely the first, and its impact upon the music industry then and in the years since is undeniable.

Now there’s gonna be a film all about it: Downloaded takes a look back at the rise and fall of illegal file sharing’s most famous piece of software by interviewing some of the key players involved, and it looks fascinating. Check out the trailer:

It’s crazy to hear this quote by Sean Parker in 1999 and think about how dead-on he was:

Music [in the future] will be ubiquitous, and we believe that you’ll be able to get it on your cell phone, you’ll be able to get it on whatever the device of the future is.

It’s also crazy to think that, due to industry resistance, we’re still not quite there.

Anyway, Downloaded premiered earlier this year at SXSW and has since been picked up VH1, although there’s no word yet on when it will get a wide release (if any) or when it will air on the network.

[via Gizmodo]