Kirk Hammett of Metallica said during an interview with Classic Rock that the group tried to warn everyone about what would happen to the music industry after the emergence of Napster.
In 2000, the band sued Napster, a program that allowed the free exchange of MP3 files between internet users. According to the guitarist, they were trying to warn the public of what was to come.
“We warned everyone this was going to happen. We warned everyone that the music industry would lose eighty percent of its net worth, power, and influence (…) There’s definitely a new way to distribute music, but it’s not as effective as the pre-Napster music industry. But we’re stuck with it. There needs to be some kind of middle ground where the two come together, or a completely new model will emerge,” Kirk stated.
Back in the Napster era, the band misjudged what the platform offered . The case was resolved through a settlement, and 300,000 users were banned from Napster, generating controversy, even among fans. Metallica's image suffered the consequences, although there are those who agreed with the musicians.
In a 2020 interview, Hammett said that Metallica “made absolutely no difference” in the fight against Napster, contrary to what many say. “We couldn’t put a stop to it. It was bigger than all of us.”
The lawsuit , despite being based on ethics and Napster's lack of due process in sharing songs, began when Metallica discovered that the demo of "I Disappear" was circulating on the platform. In May 2000, drummer Lars Ulrich delivered a truckload of paperwork to Napster Inc., listing all the thousands of people who were using the platform to share MP3s of the band's music without authorization.
Metallica representatives compiled a list of over 60,000 pages containing 335,435 user IDs in response to Napster's promise to identify who was sharing the band's tracks without permission. The list only included IDs, not specific user names and identifiers.
In recent years, the band has embraced streaming platforms, with various materials available on them, including Spotify, which is now accused of paying artists too little.
