In 2000, Lars Ulrich and Metallica famously sued Napster, and published a 60,000 page printout of names of fans who had traded their music in MP3 format online. This established Metallica, and Lars particularly, as the king of backwards-thinking douchebags in the music industry. Of course they won by technicality- unfortunately, music fans generally don’t know who the fuck Doug Morris is- but Lars ran a very public, very bold campaign, and he was elected king douchebag by overwhelming majority.
In April, I caught wind of a rather interesting blurb in Wired. Ulrich said that Metallica could be planning a digital release “along the lines of what Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have done.” He said, “We’re looking at how we can embrace everything.”
It sounded like Metallica was ready to repent its sins against its ever-dwindling group of fans, and finally get with the program. It took eight fucking years, and a couple of bands more connected to reality to make the first move, but it appeared that Lars was coming around to the idea that free distribution of music could be the future of the industry.
It is.
But the big fucking difference between Metallica and Nine Inch Nails is that Metallica is still on a major label. A major label still enslaved to antiquated business models. And so, now that the band’s attempt to catch up has been officially announced, its predictably too little, too late. And it stinks to high heaven of the old business.
Mission: Metallica, a glorified street team, will provide fans with the opportunity to download the new album in DRM-free MP3… For twelve bucks. Or twenty, if you want a CD too. This of course, is more than the standard album price on iTunes and Amazon, and much more than Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails’ $0 price tags. Platinum membership to Mission: Metallica can be yours for anywhere from $25 to $125, and includes live show downloads, photos, videos, ringtones, a $10 discount on band merchandise, and entry to a meet-and-greet contest. Standard street team shit.
The nicest thing I can say about this is that it’s just a stupid idea. And it shows exactly what made Lars king douchebag: It wasn’t necessarily what he did, it was the fact that he wouldn’t stop shooting his big mouth off about it, despite not knowing what the fuck he was talking about. Lars, don’t say you’re down with Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails while you’re still on a major label that would never let you do their dance. Don’t let your handlers hype up your big, cutting-edge new “street team” idea with tired marketing fanfare; the more you make a big deal out of it, the more the fans are going to point out the fact that it’s been done a million times before. The best thing you can do right now is deliver. Lay low, keep quiet, and just do your thing well. All that street team exclusive shit is great, but it’s not worth a fucking press conference. And the last person we want to hear from is Lars Ulrich. Especially while Warner still has their hand up Metallica’s ass.
I’m giving Metallica one last shot to get it right. In April, Ulrich denied that Metallica would sign a fatally corporatized 360-degree deal with Live Nation after their contract with Warner is up, as many mainstream artists like Jay-Z have been doing. Once again, he dropped the big names, saying “We’ve been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes for the next record, we’ll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet.”
Hopefully, in twenty-seven years, Metallica will get it right.
Metalli-Cheese is a sad band. The smartest member was Jason Newsted who left. He saw where things were going and made the right decision. They have not had a kick ass album since …And Justice For All. The Black (or sell out album as I call it) was the beginning of the end, with the pathetic St. Anger the nail in the coffin. Where did all of the great solos go? the hard edge sound? I lost all respect for this band when I started hearing them being played on Y100 (this was an ALTERNATIVE music station in Philly) and when they headlined the Warped Tour?!?!?! What the hell???
Lars is the most egoed out , over the hill ,unlikeable bajillionaire I can think of in the entire metal landscape. How does Kirk do it? I’d want to kick Lars right in the vagina.
He just seems like a total tool. It’s over Metallica, wrap it up .
Lars is a swarmy mangina. Ship him off to the old folks home where he can bore the shit out of other elderly folk with stories about past fame. Metallica are dated, out of touch bogans. Time to retire.
Metallica makes me sleepy with all of their bitching, pissing, moaning, and crying. Tired. Sorry. Forgotten. Unnecessary. These are all words that describe Metallica perfectly. Wait, I forgot two more: Greedy. Fuckbags.
Can’t say anything that hasn’t been said before–Shitallica need to call it quits and give us more “Best Of” like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest do (one every 6 months) or live concerts (again, like Maiden and Priest).
Their new material is boring and predictable–nothing that hasn’t been done before and BETTER by other bands.
The next album will flop, no doubt about it!
I used to love Metallica, back with kill em all and master of puppets and ride the lightning. After the black album came out, I just quit listening to them. They sucked. I used to love Lars, but he is such a jag off I lost all respect for him. It is a shame too, they were such a good band. It was a good thing they got rid of Dave Mustaine, because Megadeth is way better than them even today, their sound is the same and nothing has changed. Metallica just sucks.
Yeah…!!!
We wants more Metallica music for all.
You are stupid. HE DESERVES TO BE PAID FOR A PRODUCT (MUSIC) THAT THE CONSUMER (YOU) WANTS!
I don’t get how these guys are ‘douchebags’! If you sold FURNITURE, would it be fair that someone TOOK it just because they WANTED it? Just because MUSIC can be downloaded for FREE doesn’t make it LESS OF A PRODUCT! If that is the FUTURE OF THE BUSINESS, as you put it, how in the fuck will it continue to be a BUSINESS if its all FREE??????????????????????????
http://www.antiquiet.com/features/2008/05/hacking-the-record-industry/
Or you can ask Coldplay, or NIN, or Girl Talk, or Joe Purdy, or… you get the point.
It’s not about free, it’s about innovation.
Sunshine and Sparkles!
Yes, Lars has a big mouth and he was speaking before learning more about what the net was about. But is was a long time ago and he said, what many other artists didn’t have the guts to say.
Coldplay along with Girltalk etc are mostly bands born after Napster so their outlook is a bit different.
Metallica is like an old dog, hard to learn new tricks, but if they really wants too, they can.
hey keith. google made a product that all us consumers wanted. an internet search engine. at the time, there were other companies that charged for this service. and there were companies that didn’t. guess where people went?
google, unlike you, understood then that when something is available for free, it’s stupid to try and charge for it. no, it’s not less of a product, it’s just less of a commodity. google found plenty of other ways to make money once they had secured an audience by being the most convenient provider. the record industry needs to do this as well- instead of continuing to try and sell what can easily be acquired for free. it’s a drag if you’re used to making money from cd sales, but it’s reality. sure, the artists deserve to be paid. that revenue can’t come from cds anymore, but there are plenty of other ways to monetize.
[...] music news, and seriously every single fucking day, there’s something new about Metallica. We mocked Mission: Metallica and their overblown, over-hyped marketing bullshit, and I for one am pretty sick [...]
It’s pretty simply why Metallica won their suit against Napster. 1) Napster had a bad lawyer (obviously) and 2) the kid was only 19 and completely coked out, so he failed to obtain new counsel.
If Mr. A copied cassette tapes and traded them to his friends via the US Postal Service, would Metallica have sued the post office? No, probably just Mr. A, since he was the one doing something wrong. Maybe now Metallica should sue China for all the piracy going on there; could be an unauthorized copy of a DVD or two by them for sale, don’tcha think? They’re losing money. The attorneys should step in. Then they could sue Santa and maybe even Trent Reznor, too, just for GP.
Napster should have won. I hate stupid people. And at the rate they’re going, they just might be ready with another shitty cover album in 30 years, but won’t they all be like 80 by then? Yikes. rofl
[...] party for your new album if you don’t want people talking about the music? We all know you guys are all about embracing the internet now and stuff, but this latest listening-party fiasco adds a final, gleaming sheen of hypocrisy to [...]
Metallica is the best metal group ever!
8 years and people are still whining about Napster. Here’s an FYI: Napster deserved it, the people pirating music deserved it, and honestly Metallica can do what they want with their own brand. Don’t like it? Cool don’t listen to em. Years go by and there are always more prepubescent whiners pissed off about not getting shit for free. Just move on folks.
Move on? This shit was written three years ago, and Metallica is no longer a part of any conversation. Everyone’s moved on but you.