Features
T-Shirts…Good.
Napster and The Offspring jointly announced June 5 that a hastily-issued cease-and-desist order over the T-shirts, caps and stickers had been rescinded and the two parties will instead expand the line of swag for sale, with the proceeds going to charity.
The deal was worked out the previous weekend in a phone call between Offspring manager Jim Guerinot and new Napster CEO Hank Barry, Guerinot told Pollstar.
He said the two organizations are in the process of selecting the charity.
“The Offspring have been great supporters of Napster,” said 19-year-old founder Shawn Fanning in the joint press release announcing the reconciliation.”We’re looking forward to working with them.”
The ordeal began May 31 when the band started advertising clothing and stickers bearing the Napster logo, apparently without the company’s knowledge or permission.
Napster is under fire from the Record Industry Association of America and several artists for creating software than enables fans to freely swap MP3 files.
In what initially appeared to be a delicious bit of irony, Napster fired off a cease-and-desist order attempting to force The Offspring to take the Napster goodies off its Web site on June 2.