Remember 2000, when Metallica earned the ill will of many music fans by suing file sharing service Napster? That was back in the early days of MP3s, and Metallica found their song “I Disappear,” which hadn’t even been mastered yet, on the service. The following year, the service was shut down by a court order, and many people forgot about it. Metallica pretty much became the scapegoats from music fans that didn’t want to have to pay for music. They said at the time that it wasn’t about them getting money, but for artists rights. History proved that Metallica was right, as major labels, who were notoriously slow to adapt to streaming and downloaded music, have embraced it. And now, in 2016, Napster has announced that Metallica’s entire catalog will be on their service.
Wait, what? Napster still exists? Well, actually, yes, kind of. It’s definitely not the file-sharing service it used to be. After it was ordered shut down, it’s brand and logos were bought by Roxio and then bought by Best Buy in 2008. A few years later in 2011, Rhapsody bought the service, and earlier this year, the company rebranded itself as Napster. So technically, Napster is Rhapsody. According to Billboard, they have 3.5 million subscribers, and as of now, all of Metallica’s music, maybe even “I Disappear” (which, as the theme of Mission: Impossible 2, was never on a Metallica album proper). Maybe there’s going to have be a “Napster Good” video made now.
https://youtu.be/VIuR5TNyL8Y
