In a recent interview on the Wild Ride! With Steve-O Slipknot and Stone Sour vocalist Corey Taylor commented on streaming platforms and the difficulty in knowing which ones are exploiting artists by acquiring their catalog.
The singer said he hopes new legislation will be passed in the United States to allow artists to receive more money for their music, and recalled the time when Lars Ulrich of Metallica fought a battle against digital piracy in the early 2000s.
“I remember everyone jumping on him because of it, and he was so right on so many levels,” Taylor commented. “It’s scary. I wonder how many people remember this and turn their noses up at it, because he knew… He knew that was the direction we were going.”
In 2021, it might be difficult to remember a time when streaming services didn't exist, where our favorite albums were just a click away. For decades, the most obvious way to listen to music was by buying physical records or at gatherings with friends, but with the advent of the internet and the ever-increasing use of computers, the way we consume music has also begun to change.
In 1999, two university students decided to create a digital platform that allowed the sharing of MP3 files, which could be downloaded for free. The program was named Napster and immediately became a problem for major record labels and musicians, who had to deal with absurd levels of piracy and leaked material even months before the official release.
It was in this context that Lars Ulrich, drummer of Metallica, filed a lawsuit against the founders of Napster on March 13, 2000, even testifying before a Senate Digital Music Committee to defend artists' rights to their music and have their content removed from the platform.
Eventually, Napster came to an end when the company was shut down by the government due to a lawsuit filed by major record labels, but until then, Lars Ulrich's stance tarnished Metallica's image with the public for a while. The case caused quite a stir and resulted in an MTV VMA skit, as well as an episode where Shawn Fanning , the founder of Napster, went on stage at the VMAs to introduce Britney Spears wearing a Metallica t-shirt.
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