Posted on 05/16/2018 6:48:15 AM PDT by Mariner
In 2000, Metallica famously sued Napster for copyright infringement. The heavy metal outfit not only asked for its entire catalog to be removed from Napster, but requested that about 330,00 users who had downloaded their music be banned from the platform altogether. The legal action shook the music industry to its core and drew sharp criticism from the band’s loyal fans, many of whom felt betrayed.
Now, some 20 years later, Metallica’s lead guitarist Kirk Hammett maintains that they were right to take legal action against Napster. He points to the evolution of the music industry as proof that they acted prudently and were even ahead of the curve in terms of protecting the value of their music. Plus, at the time Lars Ulrich really needed that gold-plated shark tank pool installed by his bar.
“The whole Napster thing – it didn’t do us any favors whatsoever. But you know what? We’re still in the right on that — we’re still right about Napster, no matter who’s out there who’s saying, ‘Metallica was wrong,'” Hammett recently told Swedish TV show Nyhetsmorgon (via Rolling Stone).
“All you have to do is look at the state of the music industry, and that kind of explains the whole situation right there,” he added. In many ways, Hammett has a strong point; music’s worth is no longer measured in the same monetary way all thanks to its digitization.
What’s more, streaming platforms have also diminished the sound quality of music. “There was a time when the streaming thing was kinda weird, and it’s not that great of quality – I don’t care what anyone sounds about modern streaming, all these ‘bits’ and whatnot. It’s never going to sound better than vinyl,” Hammett explained.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Even Lars Ulrich knows it's wrong (You can just ask him!).
It’s popular to ridicule Lars and Metallica for their protection of their property rights.
And those that do support thieves and theft.
It’s just like stealing an apple off the cart. There is no difference...other than IP theft occurs on a MUCH larger scale.
CDs are digital too.
“”I buy only albums. Why kids settle for the sh!t sound of digital downloads is baffling to me. It’s unlistenable.”
I was referring specifically to MP3. Last I checked you cannot download completely uncompressed CDs.
I have been enjoying Spotify streaming for the last 6 months. I tried the free version and liked the sound quality, so I pay for it.
The family plan works best and everyone gets the music they like. I think it $15 a month?
(mom sees the CC statement)
I can see the Milliniel appeal for it.
You put in a few artists that you like and pick a cew songs and if starts figuring out what you like mostly automatically.
Digital doesn’t HAVE to be inferior to vinyl. But thanks to compression (signal compression to get it on a CD and data compression for MP3) it is.
That sound distortion is to “trick” people into thinking its vinyl mostly revolves around bringing up the bottom to make up for the compression. Which just shows how much the industry has decided it’s OK to ship inferior product.
Legally and morally, they were right.
However, it did not end music piracy. Not by a long shot.
And it angered enough people as to pretty much drive the final nail into the coffin of the record industry.
A pyrrhic victory in hindsight.
“And it angered enough people as to pretty much drive the final nail into the coffin of the record industry.”
The Metallica franchise is worth a billion dollars.
They’re doing quite well.
“There was a time when the streaming thing was kinda weird, and it’s not that great of quality – I don’t care what anyone sounds about modern streaming, all these ‘bits’ and whatnot. It’s never going to sound better than vinyl,” Hammett explained.”
Has Metallica EVER put out an album that sounded really good? To be fair 95% of stuff that came out in the 80s has that bad drum and base sound. But St. Anger is a big pile of wormy dog squeeze, who knows the songs could be genius but who can take Lars drumming from inside a steel dumpster?
And yes he is right about taking music for free.
Freegards
‘Tuesday’s Gone’ (from Garage Inc. 1998)
https://bit.ly/1RS5SWI
Hardwired to Self Destruct is a metal masterpiece.
Once you get past the first, title cut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ALtsnQt6M
And they put on a show unmatched by any other modern band...
The music starts at the 14:00 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TjDcibhdEE
I know plenty of hypocrites who flout their free music collection to this day.
Trouble is for me that I think that their pirated recordings all sound like shit.
Give me an LP, studio tape or a gold master CD...or forget it. This downloaded music thing, quality-wise, is horse-hockey.
Not a superior sound, but a high quality MP3, using a decent bit rate and encoded with a good encoder using high quality settings, is close enough to an uncompressed CD that most people, even with good equipment, couldn’t tell the difference. And a lot of the equipment that a lot of people listen to music on is not very good. The DACs built into most phones are crap, for one thing.
“is close enough to an uncompressed CD that most people, even with good equipment, couldn’t tell the difference”
Until they hear them side by side.
Then anyone can tell.
I guess I never recovered from St. Anger and the some kind of monster doc. That doc. turned one of the coolest bands ever into these complete needy weirdos, or at least it did to James Hetfield. If I ever see the newer stuff used I might pick it up.
Freegards
If the band masters with vinyl in mind all the other formats will generally sound good too, at least in my experience. If they compress the heck out of it, like Metallica used to do anyhow, it will generally sound like crap everywhere and on everything. To my understanding the reason most compress it is to get noticed on crappy earbuds and computer speakers because most of the time people are doing something else when they listen on those formats.
I recall Lars saying he was really happy at how St. Anger was mastered because it sounded good to him on his van speakers and that’s how he mostly listened to music.
Freegards
#18 Go here and get free music of all types.
Sample one that I like:
Mountain Sun - Audionautx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDmoSUxXJpY
* All music in this online collection created by Jason Shaw. Released under Creative Commons License 3.0. You are free to use the music (even for commercial purposes) as long as you provide a link to this website from yours OR credit us with, “music by audionautix.com”. Must be part some other created works. No further permission is required. If you need a signed release form, click link below.
Thanks! That does open up some creative possibilities.
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