Kirk Hammett is saying “I told you so,” about music streaming.
Metallica has opposed digital music services since they took Napster to court over copyright infringement in 2000. Now that streaming networks have become the norm, it’s become clear that artists are not making a ton of money on the deal, with the top platforms doling out between $0.003 and $0.01 per stream.
Hammet told Classic Rock in an interview published Tuesday (June 7th), “We warned everyone that this was gonna happen. We warned everyone that the music industry was gonna lose eighty percent of its net worth, power and influence. When these monumental shifts come you just either f***ing rattle the cage and get nothing done or you move forward.”
He continued, “There’s definitely a new way for getting music out there, but it isn’t as effective as the music industry pre-Napster. But we’re stuck with it. There needs to be some sort of midway point where the two come together, or another completely new model comes in.”