Napster Caught With Pants Down

DotMusic, September 20th 2000.

The entire might of the music industry may have so far failed to take-out Napster, but it seems the controversial file-sharing company may have finally met their match.

The Barenaked Ladies have come up with an ingenious way to bypass the threat of Napster, who are currently embroiled in a potentially terminal legal case with the Recording Industry Association of America.

Users of Napster attempting to listen to the Canadian band's new album 'Maroon' have been confronted with a personal message from the band themselves, which acts as a promotional tool, while also frustrating listeners.

Napster has been flooded with bogus MP3 files disguised as material from the new record, which feature singer Steven Page and drummer Tyler Stewart.

In one Page states: "Although you thought you were downloading our new single, what you actually were downloading is an advertisement for the new album.

In another, drummer Stewart jokes: "We fooled you, huh? We're sneaky like that. You can never trust a Canadian."