"The band Metallica has delivered the screen names of 335,000 people it accuses of music piracy to the online company it says aided the theft. Drummer Lars Ulrich helped wheel in 60,000 pages of documents Wednesday he said proves the band's music has been traded illegally using Napster Inc. software. "Napster will review the over 300,000 fan names that Metallica turned in as soon as possible. If the claims are submitted properly, the company will take the appropriate actions to disable the users Metallica has identified," Napster attorney Laurence Pulgram said. Metallica said the alleged violations of its music were monitored and logged by NetPD, a computer consulting firm that found thousands of Napster users making Metallica songs available. Ulrich suggested the music traders were cowards, using high technology for low-down theft even as some fans broke their Metallica CDs and others waved anti-recording industry banners outside Napster headquarters. ``I have sympathy in the sense that if a ton of money was at stake for me, I might act like this also,'' said Marc Brown, a musician who watched Ulrich's press conference. ``But, objectively, I don't think that they deserve any sympathy.'' -Associated Press newspaper article
"If some of our fans do not respect the fact that we want to and have the right to do what we feel is important about what's right for us, then I don't want them to respect us, and I don't respect them." -Lars Ulrich (Metallica's drummer), on having no respect for Metallica fans
"This is a clear case of a middle man cutting us out of rewards we should reap for being a band." -James Hetfield (Metallica's singer), on Metallica fans sharing MP3's
"They didn't ask us to share our music and steal our money." -Jason Newstead (Metallica bassist) on Metallica fans downloading MP3s
"I think Metallica have turned into a bunch of fucking corporate pigs. You sold out to your record company and lawyers with this lawsuit. In fact, you sold out years ago. Suck my dick." - Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue on common sense
Recently Metallica of all people filed a lawsuit against Napster as well as 3 universities who did not ban Napster (the University of Southern California, Yale University and Indiana University) charging them with copyright infringement and racketeering. What upset me most about all of this is that I looked up to Metallica as role models for years, even after they sold out, because I thought they really were all about art and music as they claimed... but now I see they were really only in it for the money all along. It's so upsetting to see people I thought were artists, and who are already multi millionaires by ripping teenagers off, suing their fans to show how powerful they are now and because they think they can make even more money out of it. I grew up listening to Metallica. They've been not only one of my favorite bands, but role models to me for 10 years. When I heard about the lengths in which Metallica are now going for money, to the extent of punishing their fans, possibly getting some kicked out of college, I was not only shocked, but I was ashamed to admit I liked Metallica. I threw both of my Metallica t-shirts in the trash and tore their poster off my wall. I can truthfully say now that I will never contribute to Metallica's already overblown paychecks for the rest of my life. I now despise Lars Ulrich and Metallica.
"The ideal situation is clear and simple - to put Napster out of business. the only way we can get our music removed is to shut the whole thing down." -Lars Ulrich
"There has to be some laws set up now for the future so it's not ruined for the big guys like Metallica." -James Hetfield, on being greedy
Metallica's drummer and spokesman Lars Ulrich blasts his fans in this extremely disturbing statement: "It is sickening to know that our art is being traded like a commodity rather than the art that it is. The trading of such information, whether it's music, videos, photos, or whatever - is, in effect, trafficking in stolen goods.'' What's actually sickening is realizing that Metallica do not consider their music to be art, but rather "goods", or a product... just something they put out to make money with. They are admitting with this lawsuit that they don't care about the music or the people who spend their pay checks at their minimum wage jobs making Metallica multi millionaires and one of the richest bands in the world, but they're using this to make an example out of their fans, much like a school teacher who gives detention to the kid talking in class so the other kids will be too scared to talk themselves.
I urge you to never again spend another dollar on any of Metallica's "products" or concerts. Metallica is touring this summer with Korn and Kid Rock with tickets starting at $65, which that alone goes to show their only in it for the money. Metallica are so worried about making money, they go on tour with a gangsta rapper and a rap-rock band, only because they're so popular at the moment.
But to fully understand how bad Metallica hurt us, you have to know a little of their history. Metallica, at one point in time, were very powerful artists who used their power to fight against censorship, the media, the way the major labels are run, and did a lot to help their fans. Several years ago they would allow people to bring in cameras and tape recorders to their shows and encouage people to make bootlegs and freely distribute them. Their album "And Justice For All" was an entirely anti-censorship, anti-government, pro freedom album. Christian groups used to picket and boycott their concerts, claiming they were Satanic and offensive, and instead of having police break up the protests, Lars Ulrich would come out and meet with them and explain their lyrics, proving that after he did, there was nothing offensive or without a good message they could find. Then with the release of the black album, Metallica soon became MTV darlings (something they claimed to object to), although they assured us video was just another art medium they needed to experience. With the release of "Load", they cut their long hair to fit in more with the grunge and alternative bands that already littered MTV, and threw out a few more videos. When they saw there was so much more money to be made doing their music this way, with MTV, they quickly conformed to corporate rock standards, stopped allowing people to record their shows, and quickly released another alternative album called "Re-Load" and insisted to MTV they are no longer a "heavy metal" band, since that died in the 80s. Since then Metallica have watered down their lyrics a lot to gain mass teenage girl approval, and the once powerful lyrics of censorship, insanity and anti-military and government have been replaced with pop love songs and music, country songs, and a 2 disk CD (to keep the price higher) of nothing but them playing other bands songs. Believe me, I still and always will think Metallica are one of the greatest rock bands in existence, but it makes me so sad and ashamed of them that they sold their fans out, deliberately hurting the people who made them rich and successful so they could make more money and deny they were ever a heavy metal band.
"If we were doing this just for the joy of playing music, we would have to have regular jobs. And that was one of the reasons I started playing music, so as to not have a regular job. So essentially, this could kill Metallica and music if we were doing it for free." -James Hetfield on Metallica's "art"
"They know how to get in touch with our managers and lawyers. It's about trying to get Congress to start setting relative parameters about where technology is going. Paying the artists through the internet, setting up police monitors to see who's trading. some kind of monitoring or policing of the internet. So the artists can get paid." -Lars Ulrich, who paid NetPD, a security company, to spy on their fans and is now demanding almost 350,000 Metallica fans be punished for listening to Metallica songs on their own computers
The statements that Metallica are angry only with Napster is a complete and total lie, simply because they are spying on their fans, asking their fans be punished, and even going as far to threaten University students with having their internet University accounts canceled, or worse, being kicked out of college for downloading MP3's of their band. No matter what Metallica's public relation people or lawyers tell them to say, this is simply about 2 things: money and power. Metallica are without a doubt the most famous and one of the highest paid bands in all of rock history, and they are looking for new and exciting ways to abuse that power. Abuse of power might be all in fun if they were using it to get back at record companies who hurt them or to annoy the media, but Metallica are abusing their fans - the ver people who made them rich and famous and bought them their multi million dollar houses and all their cars, which they constantly brag about having.
"The lawsuit seeks damages of up to $100,000 per illegally traded song, as well as a permanent injunction against the phenomenally popular Napster software. The sole purpose of Napster, the band alleges in its suit, is to abet and encourage music piracy. The band promises in the suit to amend its case with the names of additional offending universities, as well as students at the schools who have used Napster to trade Metallica songs." -newspaper article
Who the HELL do Metallica think they are policing their fans? Metallica brought lawsuits against 3 Universities, and demanded they block all access to Napster. They also demanded the names of students of the Universities who used Napster so they could press charges against them, which could ultimately result in them losing their University accounts, or possible expulsion from school. Lars Ulrich demands any Napster user who downloaded a Metallica song, whether they already own the album or not, MUST legally have their Napster account canceled, or Napster will have to pay millions of dollars. By canceling their Napster accounts, the individuals will have their ISP blocked by Napster, and possibly have their internet accounts canceled. Metallica, who are one of the richest and high paid bands in the world and the history of rock music, are willing to sink to this level of destroying the lives of high school and college students, just to prove how rich and powerful they already are.
"If some of our fans do not respect the fact that we want to and have the right to do what we feel is important about what's right for us, then I don't want them to respect us, and I don't respect them." -Lars Ulrich, on having no respect for Metallica fans
I now see the truth that Metallica are corporate scumbags just like all te other major label bands, who don't care a thing about music, art or their fans who made them rich... they only care about the money. And with CD sales at $15 to $20, $20 t-shirts and $65 concert tickets, this is money that they do not even deserve. They are all 4 each multi millionaires, yet they still feel it's necessary to sue teenagers over downloading a Metallica song on the internet.
Metallica are not suing a company, but in reality they're suing their fans. They're making a statement, "we're only in it for the money, and we have enough money now that we can sue anybody that doesn't continue to pay our already overblown salary." Keep this in mind when Metallica's next CD of alternative pop love songs that other bands wrote comes out in stores... are we going to continue to pour money into a band who admits they hate their audience so much that they are going to sue us for listening to them? We now have the power to get everything they did for free with no guilt attached. Metallica have bitten the hands that feed them one too many times now.
What other millionare MTV corporate whores have to say
"I will be the first in line to file a class action suit to protect my copyrights if Napster or even the far more advanced Gnutella doesn't work with us to protect us. I'm on Lars Ulrich's side, in other words." -Courtney Love
"I like the idea of trading information on the Net, but to have a whole album online for free is bullshit. I mean, pay for my record." -Madonna
"Napster is robbing me blind." -Scott Stapp, singer of the pop band Creed
"Napster is taking food out of my kids' mouths. I've always dreamed about making a living at something that I love to do. And they're destroying my dream." -Dr Dre
Some of the bands that publically support downloading of Mp3s are Chuck D. And Public Enemy, The Offspring, The Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, the Bloodhound Gang, Limp Bizkit, and Motley Crue, who have called Metallica, "cranky, moody assholes".
It is important for us all, every music fan in the world, to stop buying any album on a major label. We need to send corporate America a message.
From SPIN magazine
In related news, is the most ridiculous thing we've ever seen. A mysterious company, August Inc., has created a website that allows Metallica fans "to make a donation to the band to make up for all the revenue the band thinks it's losing to online MP3-trading." I am so not joking. The site is www.paylars.com. Go there. For the love of God, go there now. In just "two easy steps," you too can donate your hard-earned dollars to a band already worth millions. You are even encouraged to choose the song and/or album for which you want to make a donation to the band. As of 4:30PM EST, the site purports to have raised $188. On the site, August, Inc. states they have no affiliation to the band or to Napster. This is so very out of hand.
Other Anti-Metallica pages:
Metallica claim they don't care about demos and bootlegs being sold and passed around, but of course, they are total liars. A bootleg of their very early material was released on a CD of pre-Kill Em All stuff, and when Metallica found out a bootleg was going around, they quickly sued and had the CD pulled from all stores. I've heard more about it, but this is the only page I could find about the CD. Bay Area Thrashers CD banned.
YOU MUST SEE THIS! If you have any doubt Metallica are anything but sell-out's... This guy made a Metallica site, and the band and their lawyers made him remove it for "copyright violations". If you say anything bad about Metallica, they threaten to sue you. Read the actual letter Metallica's lawyers sent him.
MASS M.I.C. Anti censorship freedom fighter Nina Crowley's page, with tons of stuff on boycotting Metallica. PLEASE read through her page. She fights censorship in the same league with Frank Zappa and Jello Biafra. The woman is brilliant.
Another Boycott Metallica page Points out many common misconceptions about Metallica. You should definitely check this out.
