Traffic Surging at Napster, Other Music Sites

Despite recent copyright controversies, Napster Inc. and other music-oriented Web sites are generating dramatic surges in online traffic. During the week that Metallica and Dr. Dre sued Napster, alleging copyright infringement, the company experienced a 20% jump in visitors to its Web site, according to Neilsen/Net Ratings. Other music sites such as MP3.com and Farmclub.com also registered significant leaps in online traffic, according to Neilsen. Meanwhile, MP3.com said it reached a licensing agreement with Broadcast Music Inc. allowing it to play BMI’s 4.5 million compositions on its Web site, Bloomberg News said.