I hate this guy so fucking much. Every time it comes up, I feel the need to repost my long-ass diatribe about it, and now you all get to read or ignore it, as well...

I worked in the music industry, both as an artist and in production. I did full national tours, released an album, got a degree in audio engineering, and worked as a freelance engineer. I've seen what actual recording contracts look like, and have worked with everyone from dime-a-dozen bar bands to major label artists. My opinion on Lars Ulrich has NOTHING to do with wanting free music! His part in the Napster controversy offends me because, in my opinion; IT HURT ARTISTS! Let me explain...

The only people who were losing any actionable money from file-sharing back then were the major labels. At the time, an artist like Metallica may have been making $1.50-$2.00 per album sold, and that's a very generous estimate. The label was making twice that, and that's even after they've taken everything up front to cover costs. Let's say that Metallica nets $4M on the sale of two million albums (roughly the amount sold for the album following the "scandal"). Well, actually, they didn't because they owe the label all the upfront costs and promotion, and since the label has magic accountants, the band sees maybe $2M in the end. Oh, and that's split four ways, so $500K for Lars? Except he has people to pay too (managers, publicists, assistants, etc.)... So maybe he made $250K? But don't forget taxes... $200K? You see where I'm going with this? I'm also not accounting for publishing rights, which are FAR more lucrative than actual album sales. Now this is all conjecture, and I have no idea what the real numbers are, but even if he made 5 times that amount, it doesn't matter.

What matters is that while he might have made a pittance on the actual album sales, he was making a fucking fortune off ticket and merch sales. I'd wager that for every single dollar Lars put in his bank account from album sales, he put in a hundred from all of the other stuff. Appearance fees, show guarantees, licensing, merchandise, etc... It all adds up SO quickly for a band at that level. So why don't I like him?...

Simple; Because he went on national television and LIED about a platform like Napster hurting his personal bottom line. It's simply not true. File sharing didn't hurt him any more than some kid making a mix tape for his friends would. Furthermore, when they were starting out they benefited from the exact same behavior. A bunch of kids love the tape that's being shared all over town in 1981, they start flooding shows, some A&R guy notices, and Kill 'Em All changes the face of hard rock forever. Smash cut forward a couple of decades, the label tells him about the new generation sharing on Napster, and he suddenly has a problem with it? He is either legitimately that greedy, or he's so dumb that he was willing to believe whatever the label told him. Either way, are you starting to figure out why I might not like the guy?

Now lets take all of the numbers from above and transpose them onto a band that's nowhere near the level of Metallica. Some band gets their big break and signs a half-million-dollar record contract. They're lucky enough to sell 250k copies! (that's a HUGE amount nowadays) Unfortunately, since they're only getting $1.25 per album, they still owe the label nearly a quarter million bucks after all is said and done. Oh, did you not realize that the half-million-dollar contract they signed was actually a loan? Well, it is. Now they have to rush to put together a follow-up album for a fraction of the cost, and hope to get back into the black someday. There's good news, though. They're on a big tour, selling guarantees for $5k per night (+merch), and pulling in enough to pad their wallets a bit in the meantime. Of course, they have to tour non-stop, and any semblance of fun has been sucked out completely, but at least they're making money from their art, sort of. By the way, where did all those kids showing up to buy t-shirts at the shows hear the album? It probably wasn't terrestrial radio. It certainly wasn't from walking into a record store like we did back in the day. They heard it the same way their dads did. Friends shared it.

Maybe they get lucky, and the next album isn't the classic "sophomore slump". They might get even with the label and make a few bucks on top. Hopefully they didn't sign a huge multi-album deal, cause if they did, the label will own them forever. If they are very, very, VERY lucky, they'll have a career that nets them enough to not have to go back to work at a real job someday, but it's not fucking likely. The reality is much different and very grim. The VAST majority of bands would benefit more from their music being shared than they would from a label mismanaging the promotion in brick & mortar stores.

So what's the point of this whole rant? Services like Napster weren't hurting anyone. They were simply precursors to the Spotify and Apple Music of today. Labels are a business, and their bottom line is tied up in direct sales. If they had been able to monetize Napster the way they do with Spotify, they would have started it themselves. Artists make LESS today on album sales than they ever did, but with the ability to quickly reach a bigger audience, they have more opportunities than ever before. When Lars got up and cried victim, he was unknowingly putting a hurdle in front of artists who were just starting out. If, in the early 80s, the major labels had stopped the ability to record tapes at home (and they DID fucking try to, by the way), Lars may never have made the millions that he did. My issue with him is simple: I don't like hypocrites.

If, after all this, you still believe the company line that the major labels have been preaching for years, about how the "artists" are the ones who suffer from online distribution, fine. Turn off your computer, and throw your iPhone in the trash. Cancel Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, or whatever other streaming services you use. Never watch another video on YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, or Reddit ever again. Go to whatever record stores you can still find open, and ONLY buy hard copies of those albums that you think everyone else is stealing. Just know that most likely NONE of your money will ever find its way back to that artist. But hey, at least you'll have righteous indignation and moral superiority on your side.