RICK ANDERSON: Napster vs. Record Labels, Sci-Hub vs. Publishers, Part 1: Parallels - The Scholarly Kitchen

"Let me begin by revealing my secret identity. I’m in kind of an unusual position as a librarian and scholarly communications commentator because I also have a parallel life as a music critic. Since 1990, I’ve been writing music reviews for newspapers, weeklies, syndicates, and online publications. Between 1997 and 2012 I wrote thousands of reviews for the All-Music Guide, and since 1999 I’ve published a little thing of my own called CD HotList: New Releases for Libraries, which has a loyal (if not huge) international following of music buyers in public and academic libraries. Most of the people who read my music writing are unaware that I also write about scholarly communication, and vice versa. I share this information about my secret double life because every time someone compares the fate of the music industry with the (surely inevitable) fate of the scholarly publishing industry, it makes me think about parallels and differences between Napster vis à vis the music industry and Sci-Hub vis à vis scholarly publishing. In today’s post I’ll discuss some of the similarities that I believe exist between the two situations; tomorrow’s will address some important differences...."