In May of 2000, when Lars Ulrich personally delivered a 60,000-page printout of the Napster users who were sharing Metallica songs, he probably never suspected that the online backlash against his band would still be running at full steam eight years later.
Sometimes, hindsight is everything.
The band’s unveiling of a fan-outreach program called Mission: Metallica, including DRM-free downloads and access to unreleased material, reflects a new understanding on their part about how the internet works: Give people what they want or they’ll get it from somewhere else.
But when we first posted about Metallica’s plans for some sort of Radiohead-style release, the response was overwhelmingly negative. Of the 75 comments at this writing, not all are negative (even thoughthe worst of the negatives are unprintable. Except they’ve already beenprinted. Look them up).
"Wow, you’re looking into using the Internet," wrote Lewis Salem. "Good for you, Lars. We havebeen looking into using it for 14 years. When you got up anddemonized Shawn Fanning, you made a complete ass of yourself. Howpompous."
A user called Kanye West took the matter into the realm of parody: "Metallica hates black people."
When the band announced that its plan did not include giving the album away for free, as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have done, fans became even more hostile.
"Too little, too late. I don’t even listen to metal, but I’m going todownload this album illegally out of spite. Metallica sucks," wrote Ched.
Danijel followed that up with "Stay off of the internet, Napster-killing pieces of shit hypocrites."
P.W. explained his decision to stop following the band as part ofhis embrace of MP3s, despite the fact that Metallica is selling itsnext album in the format: "Up yours, Metallica. (I) don’t buy your crapanymore and don’t listen toyour stuff after the late ’90s. You wanted me to pick between MP3s andMetallica? I did. You lost."
Contrast this with the love fans have shown for Radiohead and NineInch Nails, the two bands Lars Ulrich said Metallica had been keepingan eye on while devising its own strategy.
About Radiohead’s In Rainbows, commenter Bennet wrote, "I’m glad I could shell out 40 pounds for the discbox, the album isgreat and the bonus disc should be great," while Falha explained thatany version of an afterlife would be acceptable, so long as they playRadiohead: "I don’t know if there’s a heaven or a hell. I just hopethat wherever I go, I can listen to Radiohead. Thank you so much!"
Nine Inch Nails received similar praise and gratitude from Listening Post readers for Ghosts I-IV. "Finally a music release system that I can get into. Pay the artist notthe corporation," wrote Beriale. "Thank you NIN." Julie said shedownloaded the album via torrent for free but decided to pay for itanyway: "First, I went to their site and downloaded the amazing GhostI. Then, after listening to it all night long, I went back and paid 5 bucks forthe complete download, I loved it so much. How’s that for marketing? Thank you NIN for nailing this down! Will music start our nextrevolution?"
We don’t want to pick favorites, but this one caught our eye, from WileyC:
People — tell us how you really feel.
Why do people still hate Metallica somuch? We can think of a few potential reasons:
Anecdotal research indicates that people who like computers also tend to like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails more than Metallica, even prior to the Napster imbroglio
Metallica is still on a major label, while Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, which essentially own their own indie labels, have spoken out against their former major labels on multiple occasions.
People hate the prospect of being sued by faceless corporations. Lars Ulrich signed up to be the RIAA’s scapegoat.
Everybody likes free stuff.
We think this comes down to two basic positions.
