Whenever Metallica is brought up in a music discussion forum like facebook, blogs, message boards, etc. Metallica’s controversy with Napster years back is always brought up. Whenever I bring up a topic about Metallica in my facebook account, at least 1 person will bring up the Napster thing there too. Apparently, people have never gotten over Metallica who sued Napster in 2000.

Napster used to be a free downloading music software site. I used to use it myself before the software became payable. Do I blame Metallica for this that downloading music online isn’t free anymore? No. I don’t blame Metallica at all. Who is the real person that should be blamed on? Just blame the thief who stole their song “I Disappear” and leaked it on Napster before the single’s release date. He is the real bad guy there.

That is why Metallica was angry at Napster, because somebody leaked the “I Disappear” song to Napster early which is a song off the, “Mission Impossible II” soundtrack. They were angry about the file sharing on Napster, not because people were downloading the music.

I respect Metallica for what they did to Napster. It’s their music. They were just trying to protect their work. That’s what it was all about. I’ve explained it plenty of times in the past before, if you’re a band and if your music is copyrighted, you have complete control of it. You have the right to choose if you want other people using your music. If other people use your music without your permission, that gives you the right to sue.

Will you feel good about it if some idiot thief steals your music and leaks it to the internet before release date? No. That would piss you right off, I’m sure. That’s how Metallica felt. It was all about respecting the copyright and their work.

People think they can use other band’s music for free, all they want to, but bands work hard for what they do so deserve to get paid for their music. Don’t be a pirate. Support the artist and the industry by buying it. There are still a lot of pirates out there steal a lot of music, but I’d rather not do that. I like putting my money toward the artists that I like. I don’t mind buying the CD or downloading the music digitally.

I like to respect the artist and their copyright. You should too. That’s why Napster turned into a payable site, because it was you that was stealing and sharing stuff. It’s not the band’s fault at all. All they want to do is make music and release it for your listening pleasure. You’re just disrespecting the band by disrespecting their copyright. End of story.

Kev