Enter Sandman: Metallica Joins Spotify

Exit light, enter night. The hard rocking four horsemen of Metallica have just announced today that it is bringing its entire song catalog on Spotify. At the Spotify event today in New York, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich shared the stage with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and Napster co-founder Sean Parker. This is interesting, considering that Metallica previously filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against Napster, which eventually forced the pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service to shut down.

At the Spotify event today, Ulrich sort of “buried the hatchet” with Parker and announced that Metallica’s decades-long catalog – nine albums all in all – will be available on Spotify. “We wanted to see what were the best options out there for distribution,” Ulrich said. “Spotify has really solidified itself as not only the leading streaming service but pretty much the only one. We were ready to jump as soon as we took control of our own masters.” Commenting about the band’s feud with Napster, Ulrich says that it was never about the money. “It was just about control,” the rocker added.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Spotify announces Discover, Collection and Follow features for early 2013, Philips Announces New Lightning-compatible Speaker Docks In Time For Holidays,

Sean Parker and Lars Ulrich talk Napster vs. Metallica, hug it out with Spotify

 Sean Parker and Lars Ulrich talk Napster vs Metallica, hug it out

One of today’s many, many Spotify announcements was that legendary thrashers Metallica would be coming to the streaming service. As part of the announcement CEO Daniel Ek brought out the bands notoriously outspoken drummer Lars Ulrich and Spotify board member Sean Parker who, as you might remember, had a hand in founding Napster. While there was some broad discussion about the direction of the music industry and the future of music consumption, a large chunk of the half hour-long conversation revolved around the shared history of the two and the legal feud between the pioneering file sharing service and the band. The two were surprisingly cordial, if slightly uncomfortable looking, and delved deep into the details of what both described as a “street fight” between the parties. Ultimately, both admitted that things got blown out of proportion and escalated unnecessarily. But there also seemed to be some admission by Lars that there was an element of Luddism to his band’s reaction. To see the entire, extremely interesting conversation, check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Sean Parker and Lars Ulrich talk Napster vs. Metallica, hug it out with Spotify

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Metallica: Live in France, 1984 [Video]

Twenty-six years ago yesterday, Metallica bassist Cliff Burton died in a tour bus accident in Europe. But in his few short years with Metallica, Burton recorded some sick shreds on two of the band’s best albums, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. To commemorate Burton’s contribution, Metallica has posted a live recording of a show in France from November 22, 1984. More »