Chief Says Napster Open to Royalty Talks

Napster Inc.’s interim chief executive, Hank Barry, said he’s open to discussing royalty payments to record companies to resolve their lawsuit charging Napster with copyright infringement “It’s hard to put together a business model when you’re fighting litigation 24 hours a day,” said Barry, who is also a partner of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, which invested $13 million in Napster in May. “We stand ready to have more talks,” he said, Any settlement negotiations would involve “finding a way to compensate artists and meet the needs of the users in the community,” Barry said. “A royalty agreement would work [or] some kind of fee payment.” A federal judge is scheduled Wednesday to hear the music industry’s request for a preliminary injunction against Napster.