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Friday, April 25, 2008

Metallica May Eventually Embrace the Interweb, and Their Fans Who Use It

Ewww! I just read on Perez that Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich hinted at possibly releasing a theoretical future album in a fashion similar to what Radiohead did with In Rainbows. Customers chose the amount they wanted to pay for the album. And they had the option of not paying anything at all.

Ulrich recently told Rolling Stone that he had observed the behavior of both Radiohead and NIN, and said Metallica may be influenced by them in the future.

"The band's traditional record deal with Warner expires when they release their next studio album."

"We're looking at how we can embrace everything," Ulrich said. "We want to be as free players as possible. We've been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor [of Nine Inch Nails ] and in 27 years or however long it takes for the next record, we'll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the internet."

Keep in mind these are the same guys who used to be (and possibly still are) staunchly opposed to free peer-to-peer downloading. They went as far as suing Napster in 2000. Their actions resulted in hundreds of thousands of Napster users being banned from the site . And their original lawsuit also included three colleges.

Ewww indeed!

To his credit Ulrich also told Rolling Stone, in regard to the Napster situation, "We've always been fiercely independent and controlling; sometimes to a fault. "


Info. via Rolling Stone and NME.
Image via Rolling Stone.

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