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Metallica May Follow In Footsteps of Radiohead, NIN

Posted by Soulskill on Sun Apr 27, 2008 11:48 AM
from the reconsidering-the-options dept.
Music News
fireheadca writes "Metallica, once strongly opposed to file-sharing, has hinted at going 'free' in the style of NIN and Radiohead. Having heard success stories about releasing music online, Metallica has decided it wants a piece of the action. Radiohead, as a pioneer of online 'pay what you want' music, has shown the world it is possible to profit by releasing music online, but would not post those profits. NIN, on the other hand, has reported at least $1.6 million in revenue. In hindsight, many people remember Metallica as the band that helped shutdown Napster. I purchased the NIN album, after many years of free downloads of the NIN collection, to help support the band. Would you buy a Metallica online album despite their former views?"

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  • Would you buy a Metallica online album despite their former views?

    No. They totally missed the point before, and it sounds like now they're just trying to latch on to an idea that helped others. The point of being a musician, or another kind of artist, is to share the art, not to make a profit. There's nothing wrong with expecting to make some money off of it, but that should not be the focus.

    • I couldn't agree more. Too little, too late, I say. A bit like how MS decided the Internet wasn't going to be anything major and focused on proprietary MSN which never really became a market leader. Metallica not only picked the wrong model, they behaved atrociously to their fans on top of it.

      • If they apologize. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MacDork (560499) on Sunday April 27, @12:34PM (#23214846) Journal
        To err is human. If they've seen the error of their ways, then I would reconsider them. They would need to do more than say "I'm sorry" though... They'd need to actively work against the copyright regime they helped create. 1997 NET Act made copyright infringement without profit motive a criminal offense. That's a first and is due in no small part to Metallica. They helped create a whole new class of "criminal" and they have to atone for that mistake. If they only post their music, they can keep it... If they post the music, along with an open letter to Congress requesting the radical alteration and/or repeal of recent copyright legislation like the NET Act or the DMCA, then I would consider spending my money with them.

        • Re:If they apologize. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Original Replica (908688) on Sunday April 27, @12:48PM (#23214964) Journal
          If they post the music, along with an open letter to Congress requesting the radical alteration and/or repeal of recent copyright legislation like the NET Act or the DMCA, then I would consider spending my money with them.

          Open letters to Congress don't mean nearly as much as professional lobbying, I would much rather see a Metallica team up with other musicians (perhaps Radiohead and NIN) to form a "Fans are not Criminals" political action committee and have a PAC contribution option with every download.

        • Re:If they apologize. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Jafafa Hots (580169) on Sunday April 27, @12:52PM (#23214996) Journal

          To err is human. If they've seen the error of their ways...
          I think its more likely that they saw the green.

    • No. They totally missed the point before, and it sounds like now they're just trying to latch on to an idea that helped others. The point of being a musician, or another kind of artist, is to share the art, not to make a profit. There's nothing wrong with expecting to make some money off of it, but that should not be the focus.
      At the same time, if you're trying to push that viewpoint to the masses as the way music should be, would it not be pragmatic to support them?

      Yes, they were dickheads before, but if they're really going to shift to this business model that's a fucking big name endorsing it.
      • Their "big name" is so tarnished that it would be more harm than boon if they were to hop on the bandwagon. Not to mention that their music has been on the decline since Master of Puppets. I think Alex Skolnick said it best about St. Anger:

        "There is no unity or cohesiveness to the songs. Some of them are downright funny, as if 'Saturday Night Live' was doing a skit making fun of them. This album represents what they are now: a sloppy mess. And the heart of the matter is that this is not a good METALLICA album. I speak only as a fan. Sure, it's noisy and angry but something is seriously missing. It seems to represents a decline in the standards of this modern day and age, when we are bombarded with so much information we forget what true quality is."

        Ouch.

    • Re:Would you buy a Metallica online album...? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by MightyYar (622222) on Sunday April 27, @12:01PM (#23214532)

      The point of being a musician, or another kind of artist, is to share the art, not to make a profit.
      I take a more pragmatic view. If I liked Metallica's music, I would probably buy their album. My goal is to ruin the big record companies, and the best way to do this is make their biggest sellers jump ship. For that reason, I wish any big act success in going out on their own, no matter what their rationale or motivation.

      Why do I want to ruin the big record companies? In my view, it is one of the only ways to bring sanity back to the copyright picture. As long as these guys are around to pump money into congress, we little folks don't stand a chance. I fear we might have to do the same to Hollywood if they don't wise up.
    • I have to disagree with you there. It is precisely because they want to make better profits that this "turn" should be endorsed and supported.

      Metallica was acting as the RIAA's puppet, brainwashed into thinking this is how they should 'protect their own profits.' But now that they have seen that perhaps the RIAA has been protecting its own profits and the expense of the groups' earning potential, it is one less nail in the coffin of musical art.

      Let's not forget that Metallica supported "the dark side" but instead use it as evidence of the real dark side's failing business model. If Metallica can turn, they can all turn. Before long, there may be several bands with names like "The artists formerly known as..."

      If Metallica fails in trying to get free, it will serve as a sign that other artists and bands should not stray from the comfortable dark place they exist in now.
    • Its called 'selling out'. They sold out decades ago. Now that they realize they screwed up with the napster shut down assist, and participated in making the p2p market what it is today they want to capitalize on it as complete 2 faced hypocrites.

        I still think that if the RIAA hadn't gone after napster, with the help of bands like metallica p2p would have never made it into the mainstream and become what we know it as today. They CREATED the problem the industry is having today due to their shortsighted holier then thou attitudes. They shouldn't be allowed to participate in it now.

  • Hell no (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Tibor the Hun (143056) on Sunday April 27, @11:51AM (#23214432)
    Lars is still an asshole.

    I probably would download it off the net though, with the help of my .torrent friends.

  • "Would you buy a Metallica online album despite their former views?"
    Yes, because I am a fan and will buy the new album regardless.

    Yes, because it's never too late to do the right thing.

    If Microsoft GPL'd Microsoft Office, would you install it?

  • Here's an idea... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 27, @11:54AM (#23214464)
    I'll set up a site allowing Metallica to pay me what they feel necessary to listen to their music.

  • Music Sucks (Score:5, Insightful)

    by iphayd (170761) on Sunday April 27, @11:55AM (#23214466) Homepage Journal
    Only if they went back to their roots and made complex, musical songs rather than the drivel that they've come out with since the Black album (and I know that some consider the Black album the start of the drivel.)

  • Fuck Metallica (Score:5, Interesting)

    by 72beetle (177347) on Sunday April 27, @11:55AM (#23214478) Homepage
    Not only wouldn't I participate in a 'pay what you like' scenario with Metallica because of their previous position, but their music just flat out sucks now.

  • Would you buy a Metallica online album despite their former views?
    You've got to remember that they tried to stand up and speak for all musicians. Some of the other musicians had completely opposite views though. So in my eyes what they did was worse than giving the RIAA justification for suing the hell out of people, it was also misrepresentation.

    I will never buy a Metallica album. I have never owned and never will own any Metallica song or album legally or illegally. The irony is that I've been in a few cover bands (in high school mostly) and can play "Enter Sandman" and all that crap. Like many artists, I'm not a big fan of their music. Unlike many artists, I do not agree with their views in regards to music distribution.

    In 2002, Slashdot ran a story on what David Bowie saw in the future of music [slashdot.org] and the music industry. Now there's somebody who I both respect and love musically. His vision was no copyright, albums are free to download, very inexpensive to buy and the artists rake in mad cash through concerts and tours. Don't get me wrong, he used a tone that said it was going to be embraced by some artists and hated by others:

    "I don't even know why I would want to be on a label in a few years, because I don't think it's going to work by labels and by distribution systems in the same way. The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. I see absolutely no point in pretending that it's not going to happen. I'm fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in 10 years, and authorship and intellectual property is in for such a bashing."

    "Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. So it's like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left. It's terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn't matter if you think it's exciting or not; it's what's going to happen."
    If Metallica wants me to listen to their music, they need to change their attitude toward music distribution. On top of that, they need to try to undo what they did. They need to apologize, speak out against the RIAA from now on, seek new channels of distribution, promote new bands other than themselves that use these channels and help out people who are being sued by the RIAA by providing legal fees so those people stand a chance. Asking a lot, I know, but Metallica did a lot to set us back in what Bowie was talking about as the inevitable end state.

    Metallica will not atone for their actions and I will do everything in my power to dissuade those around me from listening to them. If I could say one thing to the band, it would be "You've always been on board the RIAA ship and now you'll ride that ship down to the bottom of the ocean with your career."

  • If they apologize. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by evanbd (210358) on Sunday April 27, @11:59AM (#23214518)

    If they apologize for calling their fans thieves, then yes. They got it wrong; everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes they're big ones. If they're willing to admit it, then I can forgive them; if not, then they're just out to make a quick buck.

    I want the industry to get it right; I feel no need to be vindictive. But if they're just jumping on the next bandwagon, then they haven't actually changed at all.

  • Yes. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kingrames (858416) on Sunday April 27, @12:10PM (#23214604)
    If they learn to adapt to the world, then they deserve to survive. it takes a lot to admit that you were wrong and I'm not going to downplay that.

  • It depends (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Zerth (26112) on Sunday April 27, @12:12PM (#23214636) Homepage
    Will their "Pay what you want" form allow for negative numbers?

  • Would I ?!? (Score:5, Funny)

    by UnixUnix (1149659) on Sunday April 27, @12:15PM (#23214684) Homepage
    NO!

    They are "unforgiven" :-))

  • Sure except.... (Score:5, Informative)

    by NIckGorton (974753) * on Sunday April 27, @12:42PM (#23214908)

    Would you buy a Metallica online album despite their former views?
    I actually have more respect for someone who is willing to say "Yep, I fucked up. Lets do it a better way."

    However I wouldn't buy their album because their music sucks.
    • Yeah! How dare they want to keep an unfinished song from being heard by everyone in the world?

      As I recall it, every single artist that bitched about Napster did so AFTER an unfinished, "still working on it", "no, you can't hear it mom" track was thrown up on Napster.

      And everyone I knew who used Napster, or its equivalents, did so because they were too cheap to bother buying music. Sorry, Napster's not even close to the moral standing the GPL has.

    • Re:I think a better question is... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by warrior (15708) on Sunday April 27, @12:29PM (#23214816) Homepage
      Their new stuff actually sounds pretty good ( search youtube for it ). The band has acknowledged that what they've put out since the black album has been pretty weak. They claim the new stuff will be a fresh take on the RTL/MOP/AJFA sound ( and it is, so far so good, hopefully it's been polished up quite a bit since those youtube videos were made ). St Anger was an interesting piece of ... work. The book "This Monster Lives" describes what the band was going through when they wrote that album. It seems it mostly revolved around issues with James - his alcoholism and control issues with the band's creative direction. The conslusion appears to be that James needs to keep the drinking under control or he will destroy himself and the band can't make an album without James at the helm. The collaborative effort produced a POS ( see St. Anger ). Anyways, I think I'll buy the new album, hopefully I'll get to pay what I think it's worth.

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