Shawn Fanning
Encyclopedia
Shawn Fanning is an American computer programmer, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor
. He developed Napster
, one of the first popular peer-to-peer
("P2P") file sharing platforms, in 1998. The popularity of Napster was widespread and Fanning was featured on the cover of Time magazine. The site in its initial free P2P incarnation was shut down in 2001 after the company's unsuccessful appeal of court orders arising from its encouraging the illegal sharing of copyrighted material. A paid subscription version of the site followed, and was purchased by Rhapsody on December 1st, 2011. Following his involvement with Napster, he joined, and invested in, a number of early-stage technology startup companies.
. He worked summers at his uncle, John Fanning
's Internet company, Chess.net, where he spent much of the time sleeping on the couch.
"I was just getting into programming, so I spent a lot of my time just fiddling with projects and hanging out." During this work, Fanning spent months writing the code for Napster, a program that could provide an easy way to download
music.
After graduating from Harwich High School
in 1998, Fanning enrolled at Boston's
Northeastern University. Shawn spent Christmas break working at the Hull, Massachusetts
offices of Chess.net with his uncle John, pushing himself to get the Napster system completed. In early 1999, the system was launched. Later he appeared on the cover of Wired Magazine and rose to fame. Soon after, however, Napster was the target of several music industry-backed lawsuits, which ultimately led to the end of the service. Roxio
purchased the logo and trademark effectively changing its name to Napster, LLC
. Best Buy
later purchased the company.
Technology Review
TR100
as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35. In 2003, he opened a new company, Snocap
, along with Jordan Mendelson
(Napster's Chief Architect), and Ron Conway
. The company aspired to be a legitimate marketplace for digital media
. However, their partners and the public did not respond well. Customer support was poor, and technical issues were numerous. One of their primary partners, CD Baby
, wrote a scathing account of their relationship. In late 2007, Snocap
laid off 60% of its workforce. ValleyWag
wrote an article that Fanning had long left Snocap and began to work on another venture, Rupture. The Rupture project was announced in late 2006 with seed funding, and CrunchBase notes the date Shawn officially became CEO of Rupture was October 2, 2007. The ValleyWag article stated that the failure was largely due to Snocap
's CEO Rusty Rueff and that of former CTO Dave Rowley, who "made a mess of engineering before he was fired". Snocap
was looking to sell itself and fast. In 2008, they found a buyer; imeem
acquired Snocap
in a fire sale.
, a social networking tool designed to handle the task of publishing gamers' individual profiles to a communal space and facilitating communication between World of Warcraft
players. Rupture was later acquired by Electronic Arts
for $15 million. Fanning's career at Electronic Arts was short-lived as a round of layoffs in November 2009 included him and his team at Rupture.
, where he was a Senior Platform Manager, to join Fanning and become CEO at Path.
's reaction was shown as yawning and feigned boredom.
In October 2000, Fanning was featured on the cover of Time magazine.
In 2003, Fanning had a cameo appearance
, playing himself, in the film
The Italian Job
(2003). In the film, Seth Green
's character accused Fanning of stealing Napster from him while he was taking a nap.
In the spring of 2008, Fanning appeared in a Volkswagen
commercial directed by Roman Coppola
, in which he poked fun at his file-sharing past.
Because a character in the movie, The Social Network
declares, "Sean Parker founded Napster," many people assumed that the similarly named Shawn Fanning was the basis for the character "Sean Parker," played by Justin Timberlake
in the movie. Timberlake plays a real-life person named Sean Parker
. Shawn Fanning has no direct connection to Facebook.
Angel investor
An angel investor or angel is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity...
. He developed Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
, one of the first popular peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer file sharing
P2P or Peer-to-peer file sharing allows users to download files such as music, movies, and games using a P2P software client that searches for other connected computers. The "peers" are computer systems connected to each other through internet. Thus, the only requirements for a computer to join...
("P2P") file sharing platforms, in 1998. The popularity of Napster was widespread and Fanning was featured on the cover of Time magazine. The site in its initial free P2P incarnation was shut down in 2001 after the company's unsuccessful appeal of court orders arising from its encouraging the illegal sharing of copyrighted material. A paid subscription version of the site followed, and was purchased by Rhapsody on December 1st, 2011. Following his involvement with Napster, he joined, and invested in, a number of early-stage technology startup companies.
Napster
Fanning was born in Brockton, MassachusettsBrockton, Massachusetts
Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population was 93,810 in the 2010 Census. Brockton, along with Plymouth, are the county seats of Plymouth County...
. He worked summers at his uncle, John Fanning
John Fanning
John Fanning was the Founding Chairman and CEO of Napster. He founded the company with his nephew Shawn Fanning. He owned 70% of the company and represented the founders on the board of directors...
's Internet company, Chess.net, where he spent much of the time sleeping on the couch.
"I was just getting into programming, so I spent a lot of my time just fiddling with projects and hanging out." During this work, Fanning spent months writing the code for Napster, a program that could provide an easy way to download
Uploading and downloading
In computer networks, to download means to receive data to a local system from a remote system, or to initiate such a data transfer. Examples of a remote system from which a download might be performed include a webserver, FTP server, email server, or other similar systems...
music.
After graduating from Harwich High School
Harwich High School
Harwich High School is a public high school located in Harwich, MA. The school colors are Gold and Blue and their team is the Rough Riders. Harwich High School is the third smallest public high school school on Cape Cod.-Overview:...
in 1998, Fanning enrolled at Boston's
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
Northeastern University. Shawn spent Christmas break working at the Hull, Massachusetts
Hull, Massachusetts
Hull is a peninsula town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,293 at the 2010 census. Hull is the smallest town by land area in Plymouth County and the fourth smallest in the state...
offices of Chess.net with his uncle John, pushing himself to get the Napster system completed. In early 1999, the system was launched. Later he appeared on the cover of Wired Magazine and rose to fame. Soon after, however, Napster was the target of several music industry-backed lawsuits, which ultimately led to the end of the service. Roxio
Roxio
Roxio is a division and brand of Sonic Solutions . Roxio branded products are sold online, through over 15,000 retail outlets, to organizations through volume license agreements and pre-loaded onto OEM PC's and devices...
purchased the logo and trademark effectively changing its name to Napster, LLC
Napster (pay service)
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a file sharing service. For more information about its founding mission as a free file sharing service, see Napster.-History:...
. Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
later purchased the company.
Snocap
In 2002, Fanning was named to the MITMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Technology Review
Technology Review
Technology Review is a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as "The Technology Review", and was re-launched without the "The" in its name on April 23, 1998 under then publisher R. Bruce Journey...
TR100
TR35
The TR35 is an annual list published by MIT Technology Review magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35.Some of the most famous winners of the award include Larry Page and Sergey Brin , Linus Torvalds , Jerry Yang , Jonathan Ive , Mark Zuckerberg...
as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35. In 2003, he opened a new company, Snocap
SNOCAP
BackgroundThe company was founded by Shawn Fanning , Jordan Mendelson, and Ron Conway. Other SNOCAP employees included music lawyer Christian Castle, the company's first General Counsel, and Ali Aydar, the company's Chief Operating Officer, who joined imeem after its acquisition of SNOCAP in April...
, along with Jordan Mendelson
Jordan Mendelson
Jordan Mendelson was the Chief Architect of the original Napster from 1999 to 2002. After Napster, Mendelson and Shawn Fanning founded Snocap in 2002. Jordan Mendelson served as Founder and Chief Architect of Snocap for five years, leaving in 2007 to develop a new start-up...
(Napster's Chief Architect), and Ron Conway
Ron Conway
Ron Conway is an American angel investor, often described as one of the "super angels". Conway is recognized as a strong networker and is based in Silicon Valley.-Early career:...
. The company aspired to be a legitimate marketplace for digital media
Digital media
Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...
. However, their partners and the public did not respond well. Customer support was poor, and technical issues were numerous. One of their primary partners, CD Baby
CD Baby
CD Baby is an online music store specializing in the sale of CDs and digital music downloads from independent musicians to consumers. The company is also a digital aggregator of independent music recordings, distributing content to several online digital music retailers.CD Baby has achieved recent...
, wrote a scathing account of their relationship. In late 2007, Snocap
SNOCAP
BackgroundThe company was founded by Shawn Fanning , Jordan Mendelson, and Ron Conway. Other SNOCAP employees included music lawyer Christian Castle, the company's first General Counsel, and Ali Aydar, the company's Chief Operating Officer, who joined imeem after its acquisition of SNOCAP in April...
laid off 60% of its workforce. ValleyWag
Valleywag
Valleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, the blog was taken over by Owen Thomas. Thomas himself left in May 2009, to be replaced by Ryan...
wrote an article that Fanning had long left Snocap and began to work on another venture, Rupture. The Rupture project was announced in late 2006 with seed funding, and CrunchBase notes the date Shawn officially became CEO of Rupture was October 2, 2007. The ValleyWag article stated that the failure was largely due to Snocap
SNOCAP
BackgroundThe company was founded by Shawn Fanning , Jordan Mendelson, and Ron Conway. Other SNOCAP employees included music lawyer Christian Castle, the company's first General Counsel, and Ali Aydar, the company's Chief Operating Officer, who joined imeem after its acquisition of SNOCAP in April...
's CEO Rusty Rueff and that of former CTO Dave Rowley, who "made a mess of engineering before he was fired". Snocap
SNOCAP
BackgroundThe company was founded by Shawn Fanning , Jordan Mendelson, and Ron Conway. Other SNOCAP employees included music lawyer Christian Castle, the company's first General Counsel, and Ali Aydar, the company's Chief Operating Officer, who joined imeem after its acquisition of SNOCAP in April...
was looking to sell itself and fast. In 2008, they found a buyer; imeem
Imeem
The online service imeem was a social media web site where users interacted with each other by streaming, uploading and sharing music and music videos...
acquired Snocap
SNOCAP
BackgroundThe company was founded by Shawn Fanning , Jordan Mendelson, and Ron Conway. Other SNOCAP employees included music lawyer Christian Castle, the company's first General Counsel, and Ali Aydar, the company's Chief Operating Officer, who joined imeem after its acquisition of SNOCAP in April...
in a fire sale.
Rupture
In December 2006, Fanning developed RuptureRupture (social networking)
Rupture is a social networking site for gamers. Users can create profiles and interact with one another with the standard array of social networking tools.- History :Rupture was founded by Shawn Fanning in June 2006...
, a social networking tool designed to handle the task of publishing gamers' individual profiles to a communal space and facilitating communication between World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
players. Rupture was later acquired by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
for $15 million. Fanning's career at Electronic Arts was short-lived as a round of layoffs in November 2009 included him and his team at Rupture.
Path
A few months after Fanning was laid off from Electronic Arts, he started a new company called Path.com. In January 2010, Dave Morin announced he was leaving FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, where he was a Senior Platform Manager, to join Fanning and become CEO at Path.
In popular culture
In 2000, Shawn Fanning appeared as a presenter at the MTV VMAs. He appeared wearing a "Metallica" T-shirt, and when asked where he got it, stated, "a friend of mine shared it with me." Lars UlrichLars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich is a Danish drummer, and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family. A tennis player in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age sixteen to pursue his training; though rather...
's reaction was shown as yawning and feigned boredom.
In October 2000, Fanning was featured on the cover of Time magazine.
In 2003, Fanning had a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
, playing himself, in the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
The Italian Job
The Italian Job (2003 film)
The Italian Job is a 2003 heist film directed by F. Gary Gray. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def, and Donald Sutherland. It is an American remake of a 1969 British film of the same name, and is about a team of thieves who plan to steal...
(2003). In the film, Seth Green
Seth Green
Seth Benjamin Green is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, and television producer. He is well known for his role as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as Dr. Evil's son Scott in the Austin Powers series of comedy films, Mitch Miller in That '70s Show, and the voice of Chris...
's character accused Fanning of stealing Napster from him while he was taking a nap.
In the spring of 2008, Fanning appeared in a Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
commercial directed by Roman Coppola
Roman Coppola
Roman Coppola is an American film director and music video director.-Early life:Coppola was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of set decorator/artist Eleanor Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola was born in the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine while his father was in Paris...
, in which he poked fun at his file-sharing past.
Because a character in the movie, The Social Network
The Social Network
The Social Network is a 2010 American drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, the film portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits...
declares, "Sean Parker founded Napster," many people assumed that the similarly named Shawn Fanning was the basis for the character "Sean Parker," played by Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
in the movie. Timberlake plays a real-life person named Sean Parker
Sean Parker
Sean Parker is an American technology businessman and entrepreneur. He co-founded Napster, Plaxo, Causes, and Airtime, and was Facebook's founding president. His net worth is estimated at $2.1 billion.-Early life:...
. Shawn Fanning has no direct connection to Facebook.