Metallica has pissed fans off for two reasons. First, they didn't consult with them before launching the Napster suit. Rather than going to the fans and asking, "How do we deal with this and how can we make it work for us?" they resorted to the usual corporate solution: Get a $450-an-hour shark and sail him off toward the intended target.

The second, and perhaps most egregious, mistake that Metallica made was naming names. The heavy metal community has always had a rather, to put it nicely, tentative relationship with law enforcement, and by ratting on their fans Metallica did the ultimate in uncool acts. I hate to say this, but the band's career is pretty much over now. This upcoming tour will do well, but I doubt they will ever sell more than 500,000 copies ever again unless they admit they were wrong and cease their action against both Napster and the fans they accused of being criminals with no proof that the fans had such intent. This is a P.R. disaster of the first magnitude and will be studied for years as such.

-- Gary Garland

In the liner notes for one of Metallica's newer CDs, "Garage Inc.," lead singer James Hetfield explains that when he first met Lars Ulrich, he would "stay over at his house for days making tapes of his records and sleeping on the carpet."

What?! Isn't that the very copyright infringement that they are suing Napster for today? Wow, how times have changed for this band …

-- David Martin

What people are doing is pirating copyrighted music and not paying for it. The independent record companies are the ones that are hit the hardest, as they do not have huge budgets.

If people think the "spirit" of what they are doing is rebellious, they are mistaken. What, in reality, they are doing is driving the cutting-edge independent record labels, that work hard to bring new acts to the forefront when majors are "playing it safe," out of business.

What they are doing -- getting something for nothing -- is, in fact, stealing.

-- Marc S. Salina
president, Subculture Records Inc.

I believe that the whole mentality of Napster users would change if they actually knew how much money an average band makes in a year. I didn't even know that it's almost impossible to break even on tour until I did some research. A band usually has to pay for its recording and producing costs.

I would like to see a breakdown of where the money goes when you make and develop a record or album. If the general public knew this, I believe it would help the Napster users realize that they are stealing from somebody that needs the money.

-- Andrew Lynch

Come on, Eileen
BY DAMIEN CAVE
(05/08/00)

As a singer, songwriter and musician, I find Richardson's disingenuousness nearly as revolting as Limp Bizkit's so-called "music." Napster is very different from radio or MTV. The music industry will never be the same, and its executives and superstars are correct to be frightened.

That being said, I downloaded the software two days ago and now consider myself one of Napster's biggest fans. I think the program promotes the outrageous violation of our current copyright laws, and I think many artists and business people will suffer financially as a result of it. But if that's the case, so be it. The genie, as has been said quite a bit lately, isn't going back in the bottle. And how many of us who have used Napster really want it to? For, despite what the CEO says, what Napster really offers is free, unlimited music on demand, delivered directly and almost instantly -- and what music lover wouldn't wish for that?

-- Marc Taurisano

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