Metallica created years of bad press with their Napster fiasco in the late 90s, and I feel have just recently been getting above the drama, most prominently with their catalog being streamed on Spotify, which was co-founded by one of the dudes who made Napster.
And then, guitarist Kirk Hammett had to go and mess it all up.
When asked recently who the next generation of festival headliners are, Hammett responded saying:
It's hard to say… Muse, they're already headlining festivals. Maybe Queens of the Stone Age. It's hard to say. There haven't been a lot of really, really great bands that have shown that kind of promise, you know. I think it's a concern. Because of things like iTunes and streaming and social networking, it's destroyed music. It's destroyed the motivation to go out there and really make the best record possible. It's a shame."
I have to respectfully disagree, Kirk. Because of things like iTunes and social networking, music is being kept alive. It's the new word of mouth. I understand what he's saying: Essentially, bands will never become as big as they used to because things move too fast nowadays.
That isn't the internet's fault. It would've happened this way regardless. If iTunes hadn't come around, Metallica would most likely see NO digital royalty sales because everybody would just be pirating music. Instead, iTunes has grown to one of the top 3 distributors of music
Oh, Kirk! This isn't the first time he said something ridiculous. Last year, Kirk was upset because bands can no longer live off royalties.
Kirk, here's some advice from the internet… maybe you should stop giving interviews talking about the music business, because you end up putting your foot in your mouth and coming across out of touch. And, you want to at least pretend that you aren't.
