Metallica Tries To Embrace The Online Musical Experience -- Gets Halfway There
from the it's-a-step dept
Among folks who follow the news about copyright issues and online music, the band Metallica is rather infamous. After all, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was the first (and most vocal) musician to come out swinging about how evil Napster was. The band was the first to sue Napster (and some universities for failing to block Napster) back in 2000. It also spent many years complaining about iTunes -- though the band eventually gave in two years ago.However, this isn't to say that the band hasn't been willing to at least experiment with online music, often in somewhat creative ways. Way back in 2003, while other musicians were jumping on the iTunes train, Metallica did a surprising deal with DSL provider Speakeasy, offering Speakeasy customers who bought a Metallica CD access to other special content including "live recordings, demos, b-sides and other content." In other words, they actually gave people a reason to buy the CD -- but oddly targeted only at the small number of Speakeasy customers.
Given that, perhaps it isn't that surprising that Metallica has now come out with a new website that tries to embrace online music. The new site, Mission Metallica, actually comes out of Ethan Kaplan's group at Warner Brothers Records. Kaplan is the guy we were talking about last week who is hopefully leading Warner in the right direction on music.
As Kaplan notes, the important thing with the new site is that the music is part of the overall experience. The site (in some ways similar to their old deal with Speakeasy) offers a ton of additional content concerning the making of Metallica's latest album and various other things, like contests to win tickets to shows. It also puts in place many of the other aspects of the business model we've been discussing, including a tiered offering a la Trent Reznor and Jill Sobule. That is, the band is offering a variety of options to let people pay for actual value beyond the music.
But... of course, it stops just short of actually making it all the way there. That's because the band isn't releasing any of the digital downloads for free. It still wants people to pay for the downloads -- even though freeing up those downloads would likely attract more people to all those other options (the band, obviously, would disagree, but given Metallica's reputation as being the slayers of Napster, they might be surprised at what a total shift would do for them). It's encouraging that the band has adopted many of the important aspects of recognizing the importance of the experience surrounding music, but it's disappointing that they haven't made it all the way through to the logical conclusion of where that model leads.
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Filed Under: downloads, experience, metallica, music
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Back when they started
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Re: Back when they started
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Re: Back when they started
And the fact that they haven't released anything worth listening to in over a decade probably made your decision easier.
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Re: Back when they started
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Umm...
I rest my case.
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Re:
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Who is Metallica anymore?
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Re: Who is Metallica anymore?
How's that feel Lars, you've now made your band so freakin' irrelevant to me and many others that we refuse to even download it for free. Can't even give it away to us.
Just so we can keep it in perspective:
Napster BAD
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When they came out so violently against the one avenue through which I'd come to appreciate their music and discover others, it really soured the whole relationship for me. Now I can't even listen to their best tracks without a pang of resentment. I think this is a nice step in the right direction, even if it kind of misses the point, but I'm afraid my regard for the band is still too damaged for me to give them another chance and I'm certainly not yet willing to give them my money again.
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They are heading in the right direction for a bunch of neurotic has beens though, so give them a little slack. I am interested to see what effect, if any, Rubin and new bassist Trujillo have on the band. Not sure why really, I haven't liked anything since the Master of Puppets era.
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Whoa
I do love some of their old stuff though.
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Fail... Epic Fail
Take a hint from NIN... they got it right...
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HAH AHA HAHAAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
Thats what you get.
Magusyk
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HA
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Rippin
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Stop Crying
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too many choices
1. drive 75 miles to the closest Wal-Mart to get an edited crap version
2. drive 100 miles to get to a good music store with a decent selection
3. download the music for free from napster if i liked it it went on a list the next time I had reason to drive that far I also made it a point to stop and purchase several of the albums on my list
Now I just pay my $1 a song but i still download it free to try it out the radio is such a piss poor way of determining good music
Ahhh the good ole days when pirates were people who stole stuff from ships
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I'd watch this model like a hawk. Sounds like a soft launch of some sort. Bestbuy isn't stupid. After all, they recently lost a spot to Apple/ITMS...
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too many choices
1. drive 75 miles to the closest Wal-Mart to get an edited crap version
2. drive 100 miles to get to a good music store with a decent selection
3. download the music for free from napster if i liked it it went on a list the next time I had reason to drive that far I also made it a point to stop and purchase several of the albums on my list
Now I just pay my $1 a song but i still download it free to try it out the radio is such a piss poor way of determining good music
Ahhh the good ole days when pirates were people who stole stuff from ships
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Partway there at least...
Anyway, the site looks OK and it's nice to see that they've clued into some aspects (digital downloads of the album will be 320Kbps MP3, for example - excellent).
Unfortunately, some other aspects are still not there. There's regional restictions. There's no real information about when to expect content or the final album or when i can expect things to be opened up to my region. Also, it would be nice to have some free digital content. I can understand their reasons for charging, but people have been so burned by paid-for content in the past that most will P2P it to preview before buying anyway...
Anyway, kudos to them. It's a great sign that not only can a band embrace digital content in this way but that a band who were the face of anti-digital industry crap can do so. It will be nice when they realise that free is the way to go as well, but a DRM-free future is good enough for now!
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Not entirely "against free"
They do offer free downloads of concerts.
http://www.livemetallica.com/catalog.aspx (Go down to "Free Downloads (1982-2003)")
Not that this really changes anything, but they do have free music available to download and have for quite some time now.
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Re: Not entirely "against free"
I signed up an account on the new site, and one of the things you can download straight away is a concert from the Kill 'Em All era. it's downloading now, and I wasn't asked for any payment so I assume it's free (and hopefully DRM free).
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Blacklisted
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Nonsense Napster thingy
Come on, their last disc sucked, it's a fact. But there's no way I'll spit on their music because this Napster stuff. Yeah, they were morons, money-oriented (who in the US [and many other places] isn't?), but I still like their concerts, old (and some new) stuff, etc.
Get a life!
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Re: Nonsense Napster thingy
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Re: Re: Nonsense Napster thingy
As long as it sounds fits to my taste, I'll still be listening to it.
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Re: Nonsense Napster thingy
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ASSHATS
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I was a diehard Metallica fan until the Napster thing. Ironically, I got into them because someone passed me a bootleg tape of "Master of Puppets" back in the mid-80s. they owe their whole success to bootleg copies.
F*CK METALLICA! They're getting what they asked for by persecuting their fans.
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Re:
They never targeted bootlegs.
They targeted their albums being distributed online. They, in fact, continued to support bootleg efforts even during the Napster gaffe.
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"Metallica's Lars Ulrich to Deliver Requested Documents To Napster Office on
- 05/01/2000
In response to a copyright infringement and racketeering lawsuit filed On April 13, 2000 by Metallica, E/M Ventures and Creeping Death Music against Napster Inc, Napster refused to take steps to eliminate Metallica's copyrighted works from the Napster directory. However, Napster has requested the names of users that are trading Metallica songs or infringing its copyrights, promising to delete those identified users from the Napster service.
To that end on Wednesday, May 3rd at 12NOON PST, Metallica's Lars Ulrich along with Band's attorney will deliver to the Napster office in San Mateo, CA. the requested documents.
The documentation includes over 60,000 pages of information on over 1.4 million copyright violations of 95 Metallica songs and recordings originally included on commercially released albums.
These violations were monitored from Friday, April 28th - Sunday, April 30th at 4AM EST and include 335,435 distinct users who on average offer 5 Metallica files for illegal transfer.
The documentation lists the specific description of each infringement of Metallica's copyright (THE OFFENDING FILE) and the specific user involved in each violation (THE USER). Information was obtained by NetPD, an outside source that has developed the technology to track and monitor usage.
Metallica makes no claims of copyright infringement with respect to recordings of Metallica songs made by Metallica fans at Metallica live concerts.
The names of these users are not being added to the lawsuit but are being given to Napster at their own request, as Napster claims this is the only way they will voluntarily monitor and stop copyright infringements.
WHO: Metallica's Lars Ulrich
WHEN: Wednesday, May 3, 2000 12NOON PST
WHERE: Napster Inc. 4 West 4th Avenue, San Mateo, CA.
All Coverage is Welcome and Questions Will be Taken.
For fans interested in speaking directly with Metallica, they are taking their message of copyright protection directly to fans in a live open forum later that evening at 5PM PST. Fans can post questions to Lars, James and Jason beginning 30 minutes prior to the chat by visiting http://www.artistdirect.com/metallica or http://chat.yahoo.com.
Metallica Files Suit Against Napster, The University of Southern California, Yale University, and Indiana University
- 04/13/2000
Suit alleges that Defendants have violated the law by committing continuing copyright infringements, unlawful use of digital audio interface device, and violations of the Racketeering Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
New York, NY -- Internationally renowned recording artists Metallica, E/M Ventures and Creeping Death Music have today filed suit in U.S District Court Central District of California against Napster, Inc., The University of Southern California, Yale University, and Indiana University.
Metallica, E/M Ventures and Creeping Death Music are the copyright owners of sound recordings and musical compositions created by Metallica and possess the exclusive right to commercially distribute these songs and sound recordings and derive income therefrom.
The suit alleges that Napster and the other defendants - by encouraging and enabling visitors to its website to unlawfully exchange with others copyrighted songs and sound recordings without the knowledge or permission of Metallica - have violated the law by committing continuing copyright infringements, unlawful use of digital audio interface device, and violations of the Racketeering Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
Says Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, " With each project, we go through a grueling creative process to achieve music that we feel is representative of Metallica at that very moment in our lives. We take our craft -whether it be the music, the lyrics, or the photos and artwork- very seriously, as do most artists. It is therefore sickening to know that our art is being traded like a commodity rather than the art that it is. From a business standpoint, this is about piracy- a/k/a taking something that doesn't belong to you; and that is morally and legally wrong. The trading of such information -whether it's music, videos, photos, or whatever- is, in effect, trafficking in stolen goods."
Further the suit states that, "Napster has devised and distributed software whose sole purpose is to permit Napster to profit by abetting and encouraging the pirating of the creative efforts of the world's most admired and successful musical artists. Facilitating that effort are the hypocritical universities and colleges who could easily block this insidious and on going thievery scheme. The last link in the chain are the end users of the stolen musical works, students of these universities and others who exhibit the moral fiber of common looters loading up shopping carts because "everybody else is doing it.")
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While many points of theirs I don't agree with, it's hard to ignore the fact that they were never at all in their whole history, including the Napster Gaffe, against bootlegging (that is unauthorized recording of live events and distributing those recordings).
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It's horrible because...
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back in the day
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For all that is still good
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Re: For all that is still good
Whatever the market men were telling them, they should have realised how wrong and hypocritical it was of them to attack Napster. After over 15 years in the business, they should have been perfectly placed to not only recognise marketeering bull when they heard it, but been able to say "no" when they did. That they chose to go along with it instead of their fans is unforgivable to many people.
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Re: For all that is still good
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Two words about Metallica
They had their shot before the downfall of Napster, now that they want deal with online Media distribution they can kiss everyone's ass that lost out because of P2P, RIAA, MPAA, and all the other assh@les that decided sharing was illegal.
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Here's something from an email The Metallica Club members have received relating to Mission Metallica...
"Below is the coupon code that will give you the full platinum experience for free . . . everything except the actual album (the label really wasn't down for that one if you know what we mean!)."
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Stand Your Ground !!!
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Hey Tards...
This is a group that promoted bootlegs and sharing their music. They just didn't think you should be downloading produced albums for free. I get so freakin' tired of hearing the whining, Lars was a little bitch but they're moving on... now if you could move on. I really couldn't care if you like them or not.
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Re: Hey Tards...
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In the Beginning...
But wait, people love to hate so lets just ignore the details and focus on them attacking Napster. Like they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions after all so nevermind that they had a valid reason for going after them at first.
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