Briefly: Shawn Fanning, Napster's Tour, 'N Sync Concert Film, Shirley Bassey, Dee Snider, Pittsburgh Decibels

Excerpts from the Los Angeles Times' interview with 19-year-old Napster founder Shawn Fanning:

Question: How did you come up with the idea for Napster, Shawn?

Fanning: Well, it came to me at Northeastern University in Boston after I was watching one of my roommates play around with Web-based search engines. He was having some trouble resolving a particular reliability issue. So I just drafted up a small design document and started writing it on the spot.

Question: How is it that nobody in the entire $40-billion music business figured this thing out before you?

Fanning: I don't know. It was really a pretty simple idea. All I did was combine search engine technology with community-based interaction technology....

Question: I imagine it didn't take the record labels long to come pounding on your door. How many music industry job offers have you received since you launched Napster?

Fanning: None. No record label has ever approached me. I've never even received a phone call....

Question: How many people have downloaded, installed and registered Napster?

Fanning: Almost 20 million in the seven months since we started.

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The Napster-sponsored "Back to Basics" tour with Limp Bizkit and Cypress Hill hasn't found a venue in Los Angeles yet, Launch reported.

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"'N Sync: Bigger Than Live," a giant-screen concert film, is due for release in October, Variety reported.

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Lounge singer Shirley Bassey, known for her vocals on the theme song to the James Bond film "Goldfinger," was made a Dame Commander by Queen Elizabeth at a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London on Wednesday (7/19).

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Dee Snider will release his first solo album, "Never Let the Bastards Wear You Down," on Aug 22. The former Twisted Sister frontman--and writer and star of the movie "Strangeland"--said that this album may mark the end of his musical career.

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A Pittsburgh city councilman wants the city to pass a ordinance that would "prohibit outdoor concerts from producing sounds in excess of 65 decibels near residential neighborhoods," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The Warped Tour, which played at Pittsburgh's IC Light Amphitheatre and raised the ire of many residents, registered 83 decibels in a nearby neighborhood. Near its mainstage, the show registered 112 decibels.