In an interview with The Weeklings, authors and respected UK music writers Paul Brannigan and Ian Winwood elaborate on a statement from their recent book “Into the Black,” which said, “since 2010 it’s likely that Metallica have lost more money than they’ve made.”
Said Paul Brannigan & Ian Winwood:
“Well, over the past five years Metallica have embarked upon a variety of vanity projects that haven’t exactly brought home the bacon. By their own admission, the two stagings of the Orion festival were disastrous financially, and the shambles that was the Through The Never movie cost $32 million and will only recoup a fraction of that amount. Factor in HQ staff salaries, crew retainers and assorted running costs associated with maintaining an entertainment corporation and you can easily understand why the band – of necessity now rather than by choice – are driven to tour Europe every summer. No one is going to shed any tears upon hearing Metallica pleading poverty, but over the past decade their margins will undoubtedly have taken a hammering.”
Even bassist Robert Trujillo said earlier this year that the process of working on the Through The Never movie and recording with Lou Reed have delayed the follow up to 2008s Death Magnetic. It can be argued that they might not have made that much money in recent years, but buying back their masters and starting Blackened is an investment that will make them boatloads of cash in the future. The article in and of itself is pretty intriguing, essentially claiming that the departure of Jason Newsted might have something to do with the fact that they’ve only put out two albums since them (and a half if you consider Lulu).
(via BraveWords)
