H I P H O P M AT T E R S
due the power of the traditional record labels . Their eĆłort to harness the power of the Internet to challenge the major music groups’ dominance in the pop music world reflected a larger sentiment regarding the potential impact of the new technology.
In the initial years of the Internet’s arrival as a home-based technology, there was great optimism that it would be a democratizing
force in the rapidly evolving world of communication and informa-
tion technology. Advocates of the Internet proclaimed it could em-
power the many, instead of the few, to use media to circulate their voices and views to a wider public. But even as Internet junkies,
geeks, and gurus were extolling the democratic virtues of new media, another reality was also forming.
The promise of the burgeoning online culture and community as
a formidable challenge to the hegemony of the global media giants
was seriously dampened by the latter’s aggressive eĆłorts to preserve its dominance. The most powerful media and software companies
responded swiftly to the Internet’s growing appeal by buying out
upstart online ventures, litigating services like Napster into submis-sion, and using their vast holdings in media and other properties to develop and promote their online enterprises. In a relatively short period of time the Internet, once perceived as a tool for activism, ed-ucation, and civic engagement, was turned into a tool for consump-
tion, leisure, and entertainment. In the high stakes competition
among big media, high tech, and software giants for global economic supremacy, the Internet became the new battleground.
Roughly nineteen months after Atomic Pop’s highly publicized
launch, the Internet’s economic bubble burstâ€"bringing the com-
pany and many other online enterprises to a sudden halt. It was a
real blow to those who fashioned the Internet as a viable alterna-
tive to the major record groups. Though the digital distribution of music was the future, the vision shared by Teller and Chuck D was
still a few years from being fully realized. Still, for Chuck D the future was now.
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