Music service draining student activities fee

Author: Ben Salkowe

A committee of students from the Student Government Association (SGA) and Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB) has decided to extend the College's agreement with Napster, the streaming music service for students being funded through the student activities fee (SAF). "Based on the results of [a] survey and the data we are able to compile about how many students use the service and how many songs they download, it became apparent to us that there was certainly a demand to continue with a downloadable music service," said SGA President Andrew Jacobi '05.

What most students surveyed did not know, however, was the amount of money being paid to Napster for its service. Napster's contracts require schools not to tell students how much their service costs. "Contractually we're not supposed to tell what we pay," said Dave Donahue, associate dean of library and information services.

While Napster refuses to let schools discuss the program's cost with students, The Campus has learned that the SGA allocated $10,000 this year for Napster and is predicting an annual cost of $20,000 to continue the offering Napster next year. Although only 50 percent of the campus uses the Napster service, all students pay for it through the SAF, an annual $220 fee which all students are required to pay for funding of student organizations. The SAF was raised $20 this year, however according to Doug Adams, director of the Center for Campus Activities and Leadership, that increase was to cover giving yearbooks at no cost to all seniors.

The actual cost of providing service for every student is believed to have been just under $40,000, however an unidentified outside sponsor paid part of the costs, and not all students took advantage of the service. None of the students or administrators involved in the agreement would name the sponsor - some of the program's extreme critics believe the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sponsors Napster college programs in their first year to encourage well-known schools to join the program. Napster did not respond to several requests for comment on this article.

Next year it is expected that the SGA will have to pay the full costs of the program, meaning the SAF may need to be raised once again, or other programs funded by the fee may have to be cut. None of the students or administrators interviewed would provide firm details of the program's cost next year, however Jacobi estimated it was "likely" that "we would pay around $20,000 next year since some PC users won't register and we already have enough iTunes vouchers from this year for Mac users."



Napster cracks down on leaks



Most of the students at colleges across the country where Napster has been implemented are also kept in the dark about how much the program costs - intentionally. When Ohio University surveyed its students about a possible Napster program last year, the administrators did mention the costs of the program - which were similar to Middlebury's. Napster quickly contacted the institution and told them to stop disclosing its fees.

"They did not present us with a nondisclosure agreement when we began negotiating with them, nor did they ask informally that we keep the details confidential," Sean O'Malley, Ohio University's IT communications manager, told The Campus. "Thus, we thought we were fine in releasing our numbers."

Ohio University proposed offering the service by only billing students who used it, rather than taking it from a required fee which all students pay. "Fee and tuition increases are a major issue with Ohio students, so we did not wish to add yet another mandatory fee to the students' bills," said O'Malley.

O'Malley said the survey of students was not overwhelmingly positive, and only half of the students responding said they would subscribed to such a Napster service. Ultimately, Ohio chose to partner with Cdigix, one of Napster's competitors.

"Cdigix offered much better terms than Napster and also seemed to have a better handle on the college marketplace. The availability of movies through their service was a definite plus," said O'Malley. He added that students have been happy with the program and they plan to continue offering it next year.



Students unsure about use of fee



Other institutions which have adopted Napster's program have also chosen to fund the program through required student fees. At Pennsylvania State University, one of the first schools to implement Napster and use required student fees to fund it, the program angered with some students.

"Almost every single student I have talked to is outraged that their money is going to a program that they don't even want," Joe Jarzab, a Penn State senior told CNET news, adding, "Their money is being sent to the music industry without their consent." Jarzab and other students posted fliers on the campus attempting to inform students.

Officials at Penn State would not disclose how much the University paid Napster. "The business contract between Penn State and Napster is not something we can disclose publicly, that is part of our agreement with Napster," said Tysen Kendig, manager of the News Bureau at Penn State, to The Campus. Penn State offers Napster to all 80,000+ of its students - if the University paid Napster the same rate as Middlebury, such a contract could be more than $1.5million. Kendig refused to confirm or deny the figure.

Because Middlebury also pays Napster through a required student fee, the program here is also raising the question of whether all students should pay for a service that only some of the campus uses. When asked what they thought, and told the costs, most students were not as enthusiastic as those surveyed by the SGA without reference to cost.

When asked whether she liked Napster, Elizabeth Hammet '05 said, "Yes and no. I think it's frustrating because you can use it, and you still have to buy the songs to burn them or download them on your [mp3 player]."

When told the SGA would likely spend $20,000 to maintain the service next year and asked if she thought that was appropriate, Hammett said, "Hell no, definitely not. There are much better things to spend that much money on than a privileged rich kid thing."

Speaking on Napster, Caitlin Dennis '06.5 said, "I think it's good. Definitely, because of it, I don't download illegal music." When asked if she thought it was appropriate for the SGA to pay for Napster, Dennis said it was as valid as spending money to bring in bands. But when told of the program's price tag and asked if she still supported it, Dennis said, "No. Probably not. I don't think so."

The students and administrators who organized Napster on campus countered that such services are what the SAF was meant for.

"That's all that the [SAF] is for the most part. It is supporting student groups but there are things that are for the most part entertainment-based and not strictly academic," said Leslie Wade '04.5, one of the original students to work on the Napster initiative at Middlebury.



The program itself



Beyond the question of whether the College should pay for a program, is whether Napster is the best program to be had.

"We looked extensively at all of Napster's competitors and had each of them come to Middlebury and present demos to us," said Jacobi. "I think the consensus was that Napster has been so easy to work with from our point of view, and we really couldn't see anything that the other companies offered that was all that impressive. Napster's program seemed to be the best fit for what we were looking at for Middlebury students."

"We looked at four providers: Cdigix, Ruckus and Rhapsody," said Adams. "It [Napster] is as good as or better than the others, and our primary concern was music." Adams said that other companies did not offer
the large catalog of music found with Napster, and services that included movie features cost more. (see SIDEBAR)

Students interviewed expressed frustrations with some of Napster's limitations. Many users in general were bothered by the lack of support for Macs or iPods - the program reimburses these users with 15 free songs on iTunes. Tamara Vatnick '07 said she was frustrated with some of Napster's technical restrictions. "It's kind of annoying because you can buy music and only use the burned CDs on one computer," she said. Vatnick did feel that it was appropriate for the SGA to spend money on Napster though, seeing it no different from any other entertainment the fee might be used for.

Most of Napster's competitors also do not support Macs or iPods, and carry identical or similar restrictions on the copying and burning of purchased music. Some competitors offer streaming movies in addition music, but in general the movie selections offered by those services were considered meager by the SGA and MCAB. "When the technology and licensing gets better and we have the option of offering students a better selection of movies for a lower price, we will reconsider those proposals," said Jacobi.

Another option to the streaming music and movie services is the "iTunes on Campus" program. Colleges using this program distribute the iTunes software, which allows students to copy music from their CDs, purchase tracks for 99 cents from an online store and then freely share their music collections over the college network. The program costs schools nothing unless they want to offer students free downloads to start their collections, and only costs students money if they want to buy something they do not have or cannot find in other students' collections.

The students and administrators looking at services stopped considering iTunes last fall, determining that a few students might end up buying all the music, and other students would just be listening to other people's collections.



Questions remaining



Looking ahead, the general consensus among those involved in the Napster program was that students should consider whether this was something they wanted to spend money on.

"I'm not completely sold on it to be sure," said Wade. "This year was a good way to be in a pilot program. I'm not completely sold that a program should be paid through a required fee."

Wade thought it might be useful to have a survey this spring or a referendum on the issue during the SGA elections.

Donahue agreed that at this point the program should be re-evaluated, saying that this year it "was a pretty cost effective way to experiment with a new music service." But he cautioned that in light of increased costs next year the College might ask, "Is this the best way to use this money?"