Timed to co-opt media attention on the high profile ruling on music-sharing Web site Napster, England’s loudest heavy metal band Spinal Tap has announced the launch of its new music sharing service Tapster. The Tapster service launches today with a free download by one of rock’s formative and most influential artists, Spinal Tap. Tapster, a highly sophisticated file-sharing program, is launching to promote Tap’s never-before-heard track, “Back From The Dead.” Prior to being traded through other peer-to-peer applications, “Back From The Dead” will be exclusively available on Tapster.com.

“This will be far more controversial than Napster, really,”“ said Tap’s Nigel Tufnel. Bassist Derek Smalls added, ”We’re not unnecessarily concerned about intellectual property — this isn’t about Harvard, Yale or Oxford.“

The launch of Tapster and the release of ”Back From The Dead“ coincides with a full blown marketing campaign in support of the re-release of the classic rockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap. Arriving on September 12, ”This Is Spinal Tap“ will be re-released in theaters and on special edition DVD by MGM Home Entertainment, in association with European film studio StudioCanal. ”There’s a fine line between exploitation and opportunism,“ said singer David St. Hubbins in commenting on the timing of Tapster’s launch.

”Napster’s a bit complicated, really, what with all of the songs available,“ Tufnel continued. ”One of the brilliant things about Tapster is that there’s only one song to choose from.“ Analysts agree, commenting that Tapster will likely replace Napster almost immediately. ”All you do is replace the N with a T,“ said a UK-based source who requested anonymity. ”To say that Tapster is revolutionary is an understatement: I see it as one of the most significant developments in technology since the mousetrap,“ said Ian Clarke, heralded developer of Freenet. ”I have been using Tapster since the early sixties, and it is as good now as it ever was.“

An IPO is in the planning stages, according to Tap insiders. The band declined to comment, although Tufnel somewhat cryptically reported that they were looking into ”one of those UFO things.’