Beer GOOD! Metallica BAD!

30. May 2008 by Matt.

Who are these people, and what have they done with Metallica?

The band has a long, storied history of clashing with fans online, but along with its label, it hopes to make amends with a new website called Mission: Metallica, offering fans a chance to “experience the new album before it’s done” that will offer its upcoming album in the unprotected MP3 format — no digital rights management attached.

When the two-years-in-the-making album is finally ready to be released, members of the site will be able to download it in the DRM-free MP3 format (320 Kbps) — quite a big step for the band that sued the original Napster. The album will also be available in vinyl and CD formats, each of which will also come with release-day digital download versions.

But the album’s just the tip of the iceberg, according to the band, which plans to use the site to open up to its fans, somewhat in the style of Some Kind of Monster.

“Mission: Metallica is your inside look at the past two years of riffing, writing and recording,” reads a note on the site, which was created by the band’s label, Warner Music Group. “[It’s] proof that we’ve actually been doing shit most of this time! We’re gonna open the floodgates and share with you photos, videos, riffs and a lot more.”

Metallica has been watching what Radiohead and Trent Reznor have been up to, and it would appear that this is its attempt to provide a similar experience designed to bring fans and the band closer together. However, unlike those bands, Metallica won’t offer its album for free.

This represents a big move for Metallica and its major label overlord away from DRM and towards unprotected music. And since it requires the creation of a profile, the site will also likely become a sort of social network for Metallica fans as the album is released and the band goes on tour in support of it.

That said, the band and its label still have one foot in the old music industry. Mission: Metallica offers fans certain things for free (mostly in the form of video footage and teasers for the album), but the decision not to offer a free version of the album looks major label-ish when compared to Radiohead’s and Nine Inch Nails’ full album giveaways.

Fans have several options when signing up for Mission: Metallica, from free all the way up to $125.

Free membership

Fly-on-the-wall footage of the album being written and recorded
Pre-release excerpts from the upcoming album
A chance to pre-order the album and download it immediately upon its release
Photos and other material from Lars Ulrich’s vault of historical Metallica items, including rare and live tracks
Entry into a contest to win free passes to every show
Metallica events (when the band goes on vacation in Europe this summer, fans will be able to virtually tag along)
Digital Album

$12 pre-order
320 Kbps MP3 delivered on the release date
CD Album

$20 pre-order
Includes CD plus MP3 download delivered on the release date
Platinum membership

Price varies: Platinum membership costs $25 with the MP3 version of the album, $33 with the CD+MP3 version or $125 for the CD, the MP3s, a vinyl box set with five 180-gram LPs and a Mission: Metallica lithograph.
Digital, CD or vinyl copy of the album when it comes out — in all cases, you get the whole album in the unprotected MP3 format (320 Kbps) on the release date.
Live show downloads
Extended video footage, photos and ringtones of new riffs
Entry into a contest for festival show tickets, including air, hotel, and band meet-and-greet
$10 discount on band merchandise

In May of 2000, when Lars Ulrich personally delivered a 60,000-page printout of the Napster users who were sharing Metallica songs, he probably never suspected that the online backlash against his band would still be running at full steam eight years later.

Sometimes, hindsight is everything.

The band’s unveiling of a fan-outreach program called Mission: Metallica, including DRM-free downloads and access to unreleased material, reflects a new understanding on their part about how the internet works: Give people what they want or they’ll get it from somewhere else.

But when we first posted about Metallica’s plans for some sort of Radiohead-style release, the response was overwhelmingly negative. Of the 75 comments at this writing, not all are negative (even though the worst of the negatives are unprintable. Except they’ve already been printed. Look them up).

“Wow, you’re looking into using the Internet,” wrote Lewis Salem. “Good for you, Lars. We have been looking into using it for 14 years. When you got up and demonized Shawn Fanning, you made a complete ass of yourself. How pompous.”

A user called Kanye West took the matter into the realm of parody: “Metallica hates black people.”

When the band announced that its plan did not include giving the album away for free, as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have done, fans became even more hostile.

“Too little, too late. I don’t even listen to metal, but I’m going to download this album illegally out of spite. Metallica sucks,” wrote Ched.

Danijel followed that up with “Stay off of the internet, Napster-killing pieces of shit hypocrites.”

P.W. explained his decision to stop following the band as part of his embrace of MP3s, despite the fact that Metallica is selling its next album in the format: “Up yours, Metallica. (I) don’t buy your crap anymore and don’t listen to your stuff after the late ’90s. You wanted me to pick between MP3s and Metallica? I did. You lost.”

Contrast this with the love fans have shown for Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, the two bands Lars Ulrich said Metallica had been keeping an eye on while devising its own strategy.

About Radiohead’s In Rainbows, commenter Bennet wrote, “I’m glad I could shell out 40 pounds for the discbox, the album is great and the bonus disc should be great,” while Falha explained that any version of an afterlife would be acceptable, so long as they play Radiohead: “I don’t know if there’s a heaven or a hell. I just hope that wherever I go, I can listen to Radiohead. Thank you so much!”

Nine Inch Nails received similar praise and gratitude from Listening Post readers for Ghosts I-IV. “Finally a music release system that I can get into. Pay the artist not the corporation,” wrote Beriale. “Thank you NIN.” Julie said she downloaded the album via torrent for free but decided to pay for it anyway: “First, I went to their site and downloaded the amazing GhostI. Then, after listening to it all night long, I went back and paid 5 bucks for the complete download, I loved it so much. How’s that for marketing? Thank you NIN for nailing this down! Will music start our next revolution?”

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