![\"LARS-ULRICH1.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.mattcastille.com\/me\/wp-content\/upload\/2009\/07\/lars-ulrich1.jpg\")
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FART HEAD!!!!!!!!!<\/p>\n
\nSays not the \u201cgreedy rock pigs and luddites\u201d file-sharers claim them to be, and that he\u2019s \u201cproud\u201d of what the band did, and what they \u201cstood up for.\u201d
\n Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich is every bit the \u201cgreedy rock pig\u201d and \u201cluddite\u201d he claims not to be in a recent revelation he made to Kerrang! expressing his profound pride in spearheading the campaign that eventually took down Napster in July of 2001.
\n Ulrich, who admitted to illegally downloading \u201cDeath Magnetic\u201d using BitTorrent this past March, and despite the obvious futility of taking Napster down being that file-sharing is more prevalent than ever, insists that taking down Napster was the \u201cright\u201d thing to do.
\n \u201cBeing right about Napster doesn\u2019t mean that much to me,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t find any particular glory in being proved right about it.\u201d
\n Right about it?
\n Geoff Taylor, head of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), and former RIAA CEO Hillary Rosen, who led the RIAA during the Napster era, both disagree.
\n \u201cI, for one, regret that we weren\u2019t faster in figuring out how to create a sustainable model for music on the internet,\u201d said Taylor this past June when asked about the 10 anniversary of the birth of Napster. He says the music industry would be in better shape now if it had engaged with Napster rather than fought it.
\n Exactly.
\n Rosen said at the time of the Napster affair that the music industry, despite its concerns over how they would be compensated, should\u2019ve embraced Napster regardless.
\n \u201cI\u2019ve been quoted as saying the record companies should have jumped off the cliff and signed a deal,\u201d she also said on the 10th anniversary of Napster. \u201cBut it would have been jumping off a cliff, and people have to understand that.\u201d
\n \u201cThere were 100 reasons not to do it, and only one or two to do it. Those one or two reasons were more compelling in the long term, but a much bigger decision and tougher decision,\u201d she adds.
\n Perhaps Ulrich knows something record company execs don\u2019t, but when it\u2019s not likely being that his success in shuttering Napster did absolutely nothing positive for Metallica, artists, or the music industry as a whole other than to drive file-sharing to thousands of different platforms outside their control.
\n If the music industry had embraced Napster it could\u2019ve eventually developed an iTunes of its own where it gets to set prices and keep all the profits. The only person happy that Ulrich was \u201cright\u201d is Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
\n Ulrich also credits file-sharers for having been so successful in making the band look bad even though Metallica did a great job of this on its own.
\n \u201cYou have to give props to the other side because they did run a brilliant campaign, and they did portray me and Metallica as being greedy rock pigs and luddites who were completely behind what was happening technologically,\u201d he adds. \u201cBut I am proud of what we did, and what we stood up for.\u201d
\n Multi-millionaire artists angry that teens aren\u2019t paying the requisite $19.95 for an album makes them look like \u201cgreedy rock pigs\u201d without any help. Trying to somehow stop P2P again makes them look like \u201cluddites\u201d without any outside help.
\n Sadly enough these latest comments finally cement who Metallica, or at least Ulrich if you want to name names, really is. It makes his comments this past March about warming up to the idea of file-sharing and alternative forms of reaching Metallica\u2019s fan base seem meaningless.
\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes for the next record, we\u2019ll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet,\u201d Ulrich said back in March.
\n Maybe it needs to look backward first instead, for as George Santayana wrote, \u201cthose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.\u201d
\n Stay tuned.<\/p>\n