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ness list for those first hearings in July 2000 was strikingly pro-Napster. There was a Sony executive, and there was Lars Ulrich of Metallica. But there were also Barry, MP3.com’s Robertson, and Gene Kan of Gnutella fame, representing the future of piracy if nothing was worked out. For a number of reasons, Hatch was leaning towards Napster’s side. Back then, Napster had not yet lost the pivotal argument over a preliminary injunction, and the worst of the internal documents had not been publicized. And the entertainment industry is one of the largest contributors to the Democratic Party. But the most personal motivation came from a surprising place—Hatch’s own musical aspirations. Probably most of his Utah constituents were unaware of it, but Hatch fancied himself a late-blooming songwriter. From the late nineties on, Hatch had cowritten some three hundred songs and recorded several CDs, many of them religious. And his early impressions of the record industry were like those of lots of aspiring musicians—frustration that bordered on anger. “I know something about songwriting. And I know something about prejudice,” Hatch said at an industry conference in early 2001. “Many of the outlets that handle inspirational music won’t handle mine, because they don’t think Mormons are Christians.”

For Hatch, anything that got obscure gospel and other kinds of unheard music in front of more people was a good thing. And if the record industry’s economics didn’t favor that outcome, change could be mandated from above. “Online systems provide a cheaper and easier method of self-publishing,” Hatch said, citing the case of a musician friend who couldn’t make a dime until he sold eighteen thousand CDs through his record label. Even then, the friend wouldn’t have the rights to his work. “It’s kind of like paying off your mortgage, and the bank still owns the house,” Hatch said.

In private discussions with the RIAA’s Hilary Rosen before the July 2000 hearings, Hatch had raised the prospect of compulsory licenses as a threat to prod the industry toward negotiating licensing deals. Barry could have seized the moment and testified for such legislation. But before the preliminary injunction hearing, Barry still believed he would win his case in court. So he explicitly asked Congress not to change the laws. It was Ulrich, instead, who pleaded for help. “Allowing our copyright protections to deteriorate is, in my view, bad policy, both economi-