Napster Hires Insider to Lobby for Internet Music

Enlisting a well-connected ally in Washington, Internet music firm Napster Inc. plans to announce today that it has hired Manus Cooney, chief counsel and staff director of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to represent its interests on Capitol Hill.

Cooney, whose title will be vice president for corporate and policy development, will have the difficult job of representing a company whose song-swapping software has provoked a legal war with the music industry and the ire of the U.S. Copyright Office.

But he may be uniquely positioned to find common ground. Cooney has close ties to officials with the Recording Industry Assn. of America, whose suit against Napster is before a federal appeals court in San Francisco.

“[RIAA President Hilary Rosen] thinks Manus is a good guy, and we have enjoyed working with him over the years and expect to continue to do so,” said RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss.

Napster Chief Executive Hank Barry said Cooney will play a key role in the “coming critical policy debates over how to best grow and share the benefits of new technologies.”

Cooney, who will join Napster in January, is also chief policy and political advisor to Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, the Utah Republican who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee and has sided with Napster.

But federal laws prevent Cooney from directly lobbying the committee for one year, RIAA officials said.