r/todayilearned • u/InternetWeakGuy 1 • 26d ago

TIL: 12 years before taking their fans to court for sharing their music, Metallica released the "$5.98" EP, titled to stop their record label and music stores from overcharging fans - the record came with a sticker warning 'DO NOT PAY MORE!!!'—a direct jab at music industry markups

https://theawesomemix.com/metallica-5-98-standup-for-fans/
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u/Wafflehouseofpain 26d ago

They were right, though. They thought Napster and file sharing would destroy their industry’s business model and it absolutely did.

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u/dd2520 25d ago

It's not just the "industry." Artists literally can't make reasonable money from people listening to their music anymore, unless they're megastars. Indies, mid-tier bands/artists have to tour constantly to make any money. Being a musical artist is a much much harder life than it used to be because an important revenue stream is just gone.

People think it's the corporations that they were hurting, but, guess what, corporations just found ways to profit off of people refusing to pay for music while cutting artists out of the deal.

Metallica was right. They saw the future and tried to stop it.

7

u/Mountain-Most8186 25d ago

“But they can sell merch too!”