boycott-riaa.com - Article: Napster: Thank You Metallica

Napster: Thank You Metallica

Posted by Heidi Chambers on May 21, 2000 at 12:47 PM (printer friendly)

The old saying "any publicity is good publicity" reins true for Napster, even after being sued by Metallica. According to Media Matrix, the week after Lars Ulrich (Metallica band member) held a press conference, Napster.com's visitors rose by an amazing 65.5 percent. For the week of May 7th - 14th Napster had 141,000 unique daily visitors, 56,000 more than the previous week.

Now ... let me put some of my math skills to use and crunch some numbers. For the week after all the Metallica hoopla, Napster averaged 141,000 unique visitors a day. Giving them a grand total of 987,000 for 7 days. Napster's normal number for unique daily visitors is 85,000 and when multiplied by 7 you get 595,000. Next if you take 987,000 and subtract 595,000 you get 392,200. Now that we have subtracted out the "regulars" that visit Napster.com, we are left with 392,200 people who visited the Napster site mainly due to all the Metallica fuss.

The question that I am left asking myself is ... I wonder how many of those 392,200 people downloaded Napster for the first time and started to use the service. I'm sure that Metallica would want to get their hands on those numbers.

User Comments (These do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of this site)


Anonymous	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 1:29 PM Uh, didn't you say there were 141,000 visitors for the week? Not for the day? But either way, I know what you're sayin'. It's funny to see metallica removing people and then influencing others to download more files. Just because of all this fuss, I keep opening up napster and searching for metallica stuff to see what kind of an impact they have. I'm 10 times more likely to download metallica mp3's now. And because they're pissing me off, I'll make a point of not buying more CDs to compensate! hah!

Anonymous	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 1:34 PM

Anonymous	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 1:35 PM Metallica's right, if you aren't breaking the law you won't get in trouble with Napster. Quit being cheap and buy their CDs. If they're too expensive don't pirate them and don't buy them. You're all to chicken to shoplift a CD and use the excuses you use for mp3s so deal with it, put up or else shut the fuuuuck!!!! up!!!!

Frawgster	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 1:45 PM For the love of god man...be original. You could at least post two different replies to the two different articles...geez. Anyhow, let Metallica swing they're mighty fists...errrr...attorney's of fury around. They'll be the only losers at the end of all this damn hoopla.

Anonymous	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 1:55 PM I've seen the post about being cheap and breaking the law twice now, so to get this person to shutup and think: these copywrite laws are STUPID. if we, the music consumers who fuel this business, shutup, then more stupid laws like this will push cd prices up higher than they already were. NEVER SHUTUP about your rights! what you should shutup about is calling people "cheap" when not only is $18.99 for a CD that you may or may not like (after all, how are you to know if you can't download a song on Napster and see if you like it?) too much to ask for a CD, it's also unfair since it doesn't cost that much to make the CD. do you understand? you can't shutup and let metallica think they're right. you have to show them they're wrong and do what's right.

Anonymous	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 2:12 PM I meant those who wish to pirate without paying for music. I agree that Metallica is probably wrong but it is the law and it is not illegal as far as I know to sell your product at too high prices. If they're too high people will stop buying. The record labels have artificially inflated their prices but we should boycott their products instead of stealing them. It makes the consumer look greedy when you steal something that is too expensive in the first place.

ap0x	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 2:55 PM um i think i speak for most people here when i say.... i dont' give a shit what u or metallica or anyone else says... i aint ever gonna spend a penny on music cds as long as there are mp3s... napster, gnutella, imesh, scourexchange, and cutemx and all other programs that promote mp3s rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 4:00 PM damn straight. fucking capitalists will always be against this type of shit, but fuck it. they can't stop it. aol shut down Gnutella, sure, but it's still going, grass roots. yeah. I was kicked off Napster by Metallica, and that sucks, but I'm still a fan of them.

Anonymous	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 9:41 PM Yeah I got something to add!! What Metallica did sucks!!I mean if it were not for Napster I probably would not have heard of them and I started to like them...I guess now that they pissed me off I don't feel like getting anything from them music of otherwise...deal with that guys!!!!!!!!

Anonymous	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 10:17 PM Say something to metallica... your voice will be heard if you yell loud enough! http://www.zeropaid.com/metallica/ Sign up as a "lost fan"! These guys are going to deliver a list of fans that they lost becaus eof Napster to the band.. tell those fuckers!

Anonymous	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 11:09 PM hehehe they have some really cool anti-metallica photo's on this site! http://www.zeropaid.com/metallica/

Anonymous	Date: May 21, 2000 @ 11:28 PM i wish that fucking fan above would shut the fuckup! cheap? i bet you've downloaded all the free metallica shit you can find so fuckoff! metallica sucks, plain and simple, they are not fucking gods so get off your highhorse asshole.

Anonymous	Date: May 22, 2000 @ 12:11 AM First Metallica......now Dr.Dre' iz stepping on my dick about this napster crap. Iz it just me or does any1 else notice that the only bands that give a shit about napster are the 1's that have more money then they can spend, so they said fuckit "we'll throw a couple of million $'s out to get our fans pissed off so we'll lose record sales". Sounds like some1 should have thought this out first!

TheScaryRed	Date: May 22, 2000 @ 9:22 AM I agree with most of the comments made. However, I do believe it is the artist own decision what they can, and cannot do with their music. I no, from being a regular Napster user, that this is the coolest software to ever hit the net. On the other hand, I alwas have a guilt conscience as I simultaneously download rare/hard to find/live tracks from bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and yes, even Metallica. We as consumers should never 'shutup' as the writer above put it, but we cannot immorrally and illegally pirate an artist's music. If it was Metallica's and Dr. Dre's choice to put their music on Napster, then it would be another issue, because they have control. I know it seems that I'm being hypocritical, and I am, but we all know in the back of our minds that this is wrong.(BTW- Lets hope that Metallica loses, so we can all go on using Napster, and it won't seem as wrong!!!!!)

Anonymous	Date: May 22, 2000 @ 9:54 AM I agree it is impossible to stop pirating but that doesn't make it right. Some people here I can sympathize when they say they want to try music out. Those of you who say they can't stop us we'll keep pirating sound quite immature. You should be boycotting the record labels instead of being greedy.

Jazz	Date: May 22, 2000 @ 4:07 PM Personally i find this all quite gay! We the fans have made metallica what they are today..and they are just being greedy assholes! I downloaded ONE song of metallicas ONE and the only reason i did it was because it was the only song i havent heard by them! And now all of a sudden im banned from fucking napster for infrigment of music!?!?! give me a break. The only ppl metallica is hurting is themselves pulling this shit..i have bought almost every cd of theirs and now i wont even listen to their music cuz of this shit. I think the band metallica just has to grow up and live with the fact that some people are going to..what did that person say..oh "pirate" their music whether they like it or not. And trying to sue 300,000 ppl isnt gonna get them anywhere. Metallica needs to get off their high horse and remember how they got as big as they are!! yeah thats right..they got there because of us the FUCKING FANS!!!!!!

Anonymous	Date: May 22, 2000 @ 6:41 PM My 2 cents is that artist are just going to be bastards and go off about MP3 good, screw you, technology is changing and so must the ways artist distirbute and make money off their music, and if you screw with Napster, mIRC, or anything else that is distributing music 1)your never gonna win and 2) its promoting your music which people might end up buying just leave mp3s alone and artist will make their money

Anonymous	Date: May 22, 2000 @ 8:21 PM Hey I have a wonderful idea about all this Metallica/ Napster BS. The last time i checked there were about a zillion other artist out there that are actually worth listening to. Besides the last time Metallica made a good album it was on an 8 track anyway. Everyone just shut up and keep downloading. Besides if you were kicked off all you have to do is uninstall napster, reinstall napster and pick a different nickname. who cares what your called as long as the music is free. p.s. Dr. Dre can eat a dick too, just because he comes out with one hit song every ten years, fuck him

Anonymous	Date: May 22, 2000 @ 9:12 PM Well, i was bored and made a nice little picture promoting free music.... you can find it at... http://people.ce.mediaone.net/nerex13/kids.jpg Make sure you post it everywhere and get the message across. As long as cd prices are the way they are now, i aint buying a single cd...

Anonymous	Date: May 23, 2000 @ 12:09 AM Its funny to me how hard metallica and dre are trying to stop something that can't be stopped. They should get a clue and stop b4 they loose anymore fans.

Anonymous	Date: May 23, 2000 @ 11:02 AM Metallica and AOL are just plain GREEDY. Music is meant for everyone to enjoy. And simply because they wont get a piece of a small percentage of people listening, they want to cry like baby's just like AOL is doing as well since so many people are bailing off them. In addition, I think Metallica's music stinks anyway. But thats just my opinion.

Anonymous	Date: May 23, 2000 @ 12:43 PM I have to say, I've never heard a Metallica or Dr.Dre song before, and I don't think I ever will. As you say, distribution of MP3s - legal or not cannot be stopped - period. It is similar (but not identical) to the use of media like cassettes, minidisc, vhs, video etc. Recorded videos are supposed to be erased after 24 days. I don't think anyone I know erases the videos after that period. Anyway, how do you erase a video?? MP3s are just the same, no one bothers to delete them. I'm positive that sales of CDs will not decline considerably. The problem of MP3s is so TINY that is doesn't even make a dent in the billions of dollars of record sales made each year. MP3 downloading is on a smaller scale than e-business as a whole - and that is about 2% of the developed worlds economy. That's less than 1% of the worlds trade. Gee - worth worrying about?? I think not. Maybe the record labels, and everyone involved in this should just re-think what they are squabling over. It really isn't worth it. Think about this - how many people that are downloading MP3s have either a portably MP3 player or a CD-Writer?? You need one of those to take advantage of the format. In the mean time, you need to buy the CDs you like to listen to them on a portable medium with full quality intact.

Anonymous	Date: May 24, 2000 @ 4:29 PM who ever posted that picture with fuck the RIAA, that is killer. Had a Van Hallen flash back to the 1984 album cover when I saw it. :-)

Anonymous	Date: May 24, 2000 @ 10:04 PM Glad you liked it:)

Anonymous	Date: May 24, 2000 @ 11:23 PM this is all about publicity because metallica needed a pawn and found it, nothing more, nothing less.

Anonymous	Date: June 21, 2000 @ 5:30 AM For years, I have had a burning sensation in my heart becuase I am not a rich man. But I have been a dedicated gfan to music BUT the CD's cost entirely too much. We are deceived year in and year out with a lot of BS music! I have to pay $17.99 because I like the ONLY CUT on the album? And you want me to feel guilty? I could have never afforded all of those songs . And let alone find the damn songs before I die. Until Metallica has a valid point, ... Metallica ... FUCK YOU! We have deserved a treat for once.