Thoughts, Raves & Outright Beatings

I read in Slashdot this morning that Metallica is considering releasing their next album as a “pay what you want” (i.e. free) download.  This, despite their previous stance as anti-free downloading dashers.

Now, before I launch into my rant, some disclaimers:

1.  I was never a Metallica fan.  Liked “One”.  That was it.

2.  I do have an understanding of their initial stance with Napster, aspects of which I’ve already laid out in this blog post from a few moons ago.

However…

These were the same guys who, back in 2000, shut out 260,000 of their biggest fans from access to THEIR music, then made a huge show of it in front of the San Mateo County Courthouse.   And now these guys want to provide their new CD as donationware or even, er, free.

Excuuuuuuuuuuuuse me?

Now, the argument could be provided that, back in the initial Napster days, Metallica was not choosing to have their songs available on the download service.  It was being done for them, without either their knowledge or their consent.  Fair enough.  However, the way they went about settling their issue, locking over 260,000 users from the Napster services, and essentially treating their biggest fans as criminals was NOT the way to resolve the dilemma.  And in fact, if the reaction to the news from many in the Slashdot community is any indication, this PR nightmare from 8 years ago is going to come back to haunt them.    I’m sure the members of Metallica will see it differently.

In the meantime, according to another commentator over at Slashdot, David Bowie saw all this free download activity coming.  He’s apparently made all these plans on how to distribute his music and make his money should the use of a major record label no longer be necessary.   In his mind, and I agree with him on this, the primary income source of professional musicians and songwriters will end up just as it was before the invention of the phonograph - back in the realm of nightclubs and concert halls, where folks paid to listen to songs being performed, as opposed purchasing recorded versions of them.  For those not expecting to restructure their royalty and payment schemes due to the paradigm shift brought about by the creation of mp3s and the internet, this must be a devastating blow.  For all of a sudden, they are expected to provide free samples, where they didn’t have to before.

The rest of us, however, see nothing but marketing opportunities.