Metallica’s Albums Now On Spotify

December 12, 2012 by · Comments Off
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Entertainment Industry, File-Sharing Programs, Networks & Services, Movies, MP3, Digital Audio & Games 

Metallica finally joined music streaming service Spotify on December 06, after being for a long time ‘the poster child of not doing things online’.

Daniel Ek, the founder and CEO Spotify  announced the company is making available the band’s music catalog  during a presentation to introduce new features in New York.

“Spotify just got louder!”

While in previous years Metallica was firm in its refusal to stream its songs, metalheads will have now access to 30 years of recordings from one of the most legendary rock bands. We wrote in previous posts that Napsters days are long gone for James &Co. in terms of stance and views and nothing could prove it more than this newly inked deal.

The band’s official website announced a few days ago:

We’re beyond excited to announce that music from every single Metallica album is now streaming on Spotify! In our never ending quest for total control of the way our music is presented, we always make it a point to be sure that we are offering you the very best service by partnering with ground-breaking technology companies. So with that said, we are extremely proud to be a part of Spotify, who not only has a proven track record, but is by far the best streaming service.

Additionally, at a press conference held recently in New York drummer Lars Ulrich pointed out: “With the kind of global reach that [Spotify] had, we were ready to jump in as soon as we took control of our own masters.”

Metallica’s catalog on Spotify will feature all the band’s studio albums but also some of their ‘live shit’, singles, and even remixes and collaborations.

‘We’re always looking for more ways to get our music out to you, whether it’s streaming live videos through our tour page on this site or offering downloads of live shows through LiveMetallica.com. Connecting with Spotify was the next logical step and we can’t wait to see what the future brings!’ further reads the band’s announcement.

Lars Ulrich with Sean Parker and Spotify founder Daniel Ek

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Metallica Launches “Tap Tap Revenge: Metallica” – iPhone App for Its Fans

October 28, 2009 by · Comments Off
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Movies, MP3, Digital Audio & Games, Tops 
Metallica Launches "Tap Tap Revenge: Metallica" - iPhone App for Its Fans

The days when Metallica was suing Napster for making available for free without their permission lots of their songs are long gone now and over the past two years the band has tried (successfully, I’d add) to prove that its attitude has changed to better suit our times. Last year, beside the traditional ways and media, the band released its new album “Death Magnetic” through the “Guitar Hero: Metallica” video game.

Metallica’s latest surprise will probably be a hit among fans – the band reached iPhones with a finger-tapping music game called “Tap Tap Revenge: Metallica.”

The app is somewhat similar to the popular video games “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero,” where the concept is to tap areas on the screen as music plays.

The veteran rock band knows that such moves are very important if you want to preserve popularity (better said, stay cool) among teenagers. Drummer Lars Ulrich explains:

“It’s one more thing that’ll keep me semi-cool in my kids’ eyes for another six months until the next thing comes out. It’s not about the money or revenue or some master plan. This stuff all falls in the fun category.”

Not so care-free about the money issue is probably Warner Bros, Metallica’s recording company, which has high hopes for the game, expecting it to reach the top 10 paid music apps on Apple Inc.’s iTunes store.

(via AP )

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Metallica Series: Free Downloads, Guitar Hero, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

March 22, 2009 by · Comments Off
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Entertainment Industry 

Metallica has come a long way. After wondering last year if the band had gone pro file-sharing (read more) and then announcing their ‘reconciliation’ with Napster, now we come with another piece of news about the four horsemen – the heavy metal group is offering free downloads for fans through Xbox Live.

As Game Informer magazine informs, Metallica wants to make demos of some of their songs like “Sad But True” and “Seek and Destroy” to include them on XBox Live.

This decision synchronizes with the group’s debut on Guitar Hero video game – March 29th (and a week before Hetfield & Co. are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). Fans and gamers reunited will be able to perform as their idols in practice, Head-to-Head, Pro Face-Off and Battle mode.

At the band’s request Alice in Chains and Queen will be also take part in the project.

James sure does seem quite 'life magnetic' lately

James sure does seem quite 'life magnetic' lately

Now we leave you with a treat, an interview with frontman James Hetfield, courtesy of Rolling Stones Magazine:

Which member of Metallica is the best at playing Guitar Hero?

Oh, I don’t know. I think we’re all equally bad.

As a guitarist, how are you at using the guitar controller?

The initial thought was, “This is gonna be so easy.” And then I picked it up and tried doing it. And it was like [makes plunking sound]. “Are you kidding me? You guys suck! You’re supposed to follow me!” I gotta be on with the lines. And Metallica’s not as on with the lines as some other bands. Especially having Lars as a drummer [Laughs].

How do you feel about the criticism that games like Guitar Hero are keeping a generation of kids from picking up actual guitars?
That’s an interesting backlash. I think Guitar Hero is a great gateway drug to real music. If you’ve got the music bug, nothing’s gonna stop you. It’s your destiny to express your gift.

When you were speaking out about file-sharing in 2000, Metallica was accused of being anti-technology. And now you’re on top of a technological trend…

We’ve never been anti-technology. Never ever. When we’re recording records, I want the newest, coolest gear possible. You want to combine it with the old amp or the vintage something. We’ve had one of the coolest websites from way back. Obviously the Napster part and the music-sharing was something that struck us in a different way, and we stood up for the artist. Technology’s always been a way for us to get out music out there and this is another prime example. That’s how music is connecting with people. Young kids love playing video games. Let’s school ‘em. Lars’s kid came up to me and says, “You know what my favorite song is? ‘Mississippi Queen’ by Mountain!” Where did you hear that? “It was on Guitar Hero.”

How do you feel about the way your character looks in the game?

[Laughs] Well if I had my way, it would be super giant and ugly. Well, it is anyway… There’s a bit of ego in there, like, “I wish my guns were bigger.” But it’s a chance to change yourself, maybe the way you want to be seen. Maybe there’s some psych class 101 in there… When they brought the first drawings in, everyone was cool with the other people. But with your own person it’s, “I don’t look like that! The hell?! I look like a friggin’ cavemen!” Well, Robert’s definitely a caveman. [Laughs]

What do you think about the opinion that the mastering job of your last album, Death Magnetic, sounds better on a video game than on CD?

[Laughs] Then… cool, I guess! It sounds better in my car than on my TV, I think.

What’s the first video game you fell in love with?

My buddy had Pong. We were obsessed with it. That was it, man.

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Metallica on Top Issues – File Sharing & Mastering Music

December 19, 2008 by · Comments Off
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Entertainment Industry, Legal P2P News & Issues, Movies, MP3, Digital Audio & Games 

P2POn’s latest post related to the heavy-metal band published in September about a week before Metallica’s Death Magnetic was officially released began with a statement many were rather reticent to: It seems that Metallica distances itself more and more from the band it was back in 2000 when it carried the flag against illegal file-sharing. The grounds to that was what seemed to be a more comfortable attitude towards P2P and file-sharing from Hetfield & Co. in the context of their long expected album leaked on BitTorrent. On the same line today we check out what is Metallica’s current stand with respect to file-sharing. Shay Quillen from the mercurynews.com had the chance of an encounter with Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich backstage in Fresno and thanks to him we offer here some excerpts from the interview (and while at it why not watching the latest controversial video of what remains one of the greatest rock bands ever):

KIRK HAMMETT ON FILE-SHARING: Our thinking hasn’t changed at all. I mean, I think that intellectual property should be protected and respected, and it really is what makes a lot of the things in the whole entertainment industry go around. (Did your legal battle against Napster hurt you from a PR perspective?) It probably did, but you know, a little salt in the cake makes for a better-tasting cake, right? So, we can’t always make the right decisions. As far as PR and the way we handled it, we could have handled it a lot better, but we’re still sticking to our guns on it. You know, file-sharing as far as music is concerned hurts the audience in a roundabout way that a lot of people don’t realize. … People might think I’m an a–hole for saying what I’m saying, but knowing both sides of the equation well, I just have to say, it’s convenient in the short term, but it’s destructive in the long term.

LARS ULRICH ON THE “LOUDNESS WAR” AND CRITICISM OF THE MASTERING OF “DEATH MAGNETIC”: There’s a lot of the rock generation who have aged and who are now in their 40s, and who are still holding on to what was 20 or 30 years ago, and I don’t fault that, whatsoever. But obviously compression plays a different role in music and mixing and mastering than it did 20 years ago or 30 years ago. And obviously, MP3s and online services and downloads — it’s a different game than it was. So obviously things sound different. You know, there’s no right or wrong here. It’s truly about tastes, and it’s truly about what people prefer.

KIRK HAMMETT ON HANGING OUT IN SAN JOSE AS A KID: I have relatives in San Jose. They live off of Story Road. … Actually, I did spend quite a lot of time in San Jose. I was always glad to go down there because it was always much warmer than San Francisco. Whenever my mom would say we’re going down to San Jose, I was like “All right!” because my cousins were always there and they had a pool. I was an urban kid living in San Francisco where it was always cold, and we didn’t have a pool. So it was always a fun experience for me.

LARS ULRICH ON HIS LOVE FOR THE BAY AREA: We did form in Los Angeles, but I always considered us a Bay Area band. We had to get out of there. It was too crazy. All that glam stuff and Hollywood horsesh– was going on. Ugh. It was nasty. We came up and played a couple of shows in the city, at the Stone, the Mab, the old Waldorf, all those places. Just much more of an open environment up here, obviously. People were much more open to music and individuality and there was much more tolerance, obviously, because that’s what San Francisco and the Bay Area is all about. So we were just much more at home here … As a non-U.S. citizen, but a U.S. taxpayer, there is no place I would rather be. If I got tarred and feathered or something, and literally got thrown out — if Gavin threw me out of San Francisco, the greater Bay Area — then I would probably go back to Denmark, because I don’t think I could feel at home enough anywhere else in the States to not want to be in Denmark.

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Metallica Album Leaked to BitTorrent – The Band Doesn’t Complain

September 6, 2008 by · Comments Off
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Downloads, Entertainment Industry, Movies, MP3, Digital Audio & Games 

It seems that Metallica distances itself more and more from the band it was back in 2000 when it carried the flag against illegal file-sharing.

After we kept you posted with the band’s latest moves, today we take another look at how an old dog can still learn new tricks.

You remember the interview Ulrich gave a few months ago to Rolling Stone when he announced – “We’ve been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes for the next record, we’ll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet.”
As the quoted musicians let fans download a recent album for free we took that statement to mean that Metallica was beginning to change its view and approach to file sharing.

Here’s the latest news about the band – yesterday, in an interview with San Francisco-based radio station Live 105 focused on promoting Metallica’s upcoming “Death Magnetic” album, Lars (who else?) suggested again a comfortable attitude towards P2P and file-sharing from the rockers.

“Listen, we’re ten days from release,” Ulrich said.”I mean, from here, we’re golden,” he continued. “If this thing leaks all over the world today or tomorrow, happy days. Happy days. Trust me. Ten days out and it hasn’t quote-unquote fallen off the truck yet? Everybody’s happy. It’s 2008 and it’s part of how it is these days, so it’s fine. We’re happy.”

The album found its way to BitTorrent a few days ago when it leaked allegedly after a French record store put it for sale by accident and the buyer then hurried on torrents to share what so many people have been so eagerly waiting. Still, there are some out there who are patiently waiting for September 12 when “Death Magnetic” will be officially released, which of course, does not mean (as the record labels want us to think so often) that those who have already downloaded the material are not likely to buy it as well. However, sometimes waiting adds a good vibe to the emotion.

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