Long, but Sincere (Score 1)

An Open (and Sincere) Letter to Metallica Metallica: I appreciate the opportunity to have this message read and considered by you. I hope that you read this a sincere and honest letter to help you decide the way that you wish to continue in your suit and your decisions regarding Napster and the mp3 debate. I understand your wanting to protect your intellectual property from those who would disenfranchise you from your well-deserved rewards. As a fan from the early eighties, I had always respected your anti-establishment attitude, anti-corporate message, and anti-control positions. Like millions of other fans, I supported you when you were underground and shared your triumph as you broke into the Grammy's and skyrocketed to stardom. Being young and impressionable, the message to me was very important: You do not have to be establishment or subjugate your ideals in order to be successful; that the people will listen and freedom and passion can prevail, However, more distressing than your decision to attack the very fan base that believed in you and helped put you where you are now are the ideals that you are now professing. From your Web-Chat: "...Also to spearhead some kind of activity within the powers that be, the government, to lay down the laws with the computer, to exercise some kind of control, and govern companies like Napster ..." "...to get Congress to start setting relative parameters about where technology is going..." "setting up police monitors to see who's trading. some kind of monitoring or policing of the internet..." Honestly, these are not the words that I ever thought I would ever hear Metallica saying. These suggestions fly against everything that I was under the impression that you have protested against for 20 years, and are more akin to those who expound fascist and oppressive ideals. I ask that you rethink the ramifications of what you are asking and be careful of what you wish for. You further state that nobody should be fooled by what Napster represents, "Napster is a big machine funded by big money... The person who invented Napster is an employee of the big machine as we speak." I am quite certain, however, that the _business_ that is Metallica, not the four of you as artists, is itself a much larger employee of a vastly larger machine. You may own the rights to your artistic creations, but you have somebody pulling your strings as well. You four have made many people and companies a vast amount of money. I believe that many of those are part of the RIAA. This machine has yet to find a way of reaping profits from a revolutionary new technology that empowers both artist and fan, therefore this technology must be repressed so that the corporations that benefit most from your work have time to figure out how to use it to further their wealth. Indeed, you yourselves have already stated that "We have no issue with the MP3 format. Rather, it is how the format is being used, and who controls it." That is, it seems, as long as it is the large machine that you now represent in your lawsuit that control it. Perhaps you, Metallica, do not realize the way that you have been used to further this agenda. I would hate to think that you have become what you have despised and asked us to join you in fighting against. It is rather obvious that you have very limited experience on the internet and have many misconceptions about what it is, the community it fosters, and the issues of freedom and privacy versus corporatism and control that is constantly being fought in its electronic frontiers. Mind you, this is not an attack-I am no more a professional drummer or lawyer than you are an active netizen. However, what I do know is that the precedence that you are potentially setting is dangerous and those who stand to benefit by it are not who you think they are. I know that you put in years and years of hard work and must have faced incredible emotional and psychological challenges during your hard climb to the top. As such, I am confident that you realize that there are so few super-artists in music that will ever attain your success, but the publicity and distribution of mp3 music helps a staggering amount of lesser known or even unknown bands. Your suit against Napster and the chilling of those who trade mp3 music will undoubtedly adversely affect these artists who are not doing this for the money but are rather following their muses and passions. Please reconsider what you want out of this lawsuit, evaluate the message that you are now expousing, consider who this will _truly_ benefit, and remember who you really are. Sincerely, Kulte