Metallica Signs Onto Spotify, Full Catalog Available
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 12.06.2012
Metal band also buries the hatchet with Napster founder...
Metallica has joined Spotify. Billboard reports that the band, who famously took on Napster to fight their music hitting peer-to-peer download sites, has reached an agreement to let their full catalog be available on the service. All of their music is now available on the streaming service.
The announcement was made at a press conference in New York that was attended by Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek, Metallica drummer Las Ulrich and Spotify investor (and Napster founder) Sean Parker. Parker and Ulrich were the figureheads in the Metallica/Napster feud that made music piracy mainstream headline news. Metallica sued Napster back in 2000 when they found a pirated demo of their song "I Disappear" on the service; that kicked off a wave of lawsuits including Dr. Dre and the RIAA. Ulrich served as a spokesperson for the band in speaking out about Napster, while Parker took jabs at Metallica at several high-profile events.
Ulrich commented on joining Spotify, saying, "We wanted to see what were the best options out there...Spotify has really solidified itself as not only the leading streaming service but pretty much the only one. We were ready to jump as soon as we took control of our own masters."
Meanwhile, Parker and Ulrich buried the hatchet. Parker noted that he and Ulrich "were more alike than different," while Ulrich complimented Napster as being "smart."
Ek also announced at the conference that Spotify now has more than five million paying subscribers, with one million of them in the U.S.
