Usually, when a company invites the media or bloggers to an event to offer an exclusive early look at a product, the goal is to encourage said media or bloggers to write about that product. When Metallica invited bloggers to listen to its upcoming album, reviews inevitably popped up on the Web; reviews which Metallica’s management promptly “forced” bloggers to take down.
“The Quietus kept our article up the longest and, as no non-disclosure agreement had been signed, [was] not prepared to remove it merely due to the demands of Metallica’s management,” Turner continued. “We only eventually removed the article earlier today to protect the professional interests of the writer concerned (the piece was written anonymously).”
Metallica has a long history of alienating their biggest fans, and clearly fears digital media, but this feels clumsy and ham-fisted even for them. If the album mix wasn’t final, they shouldn’t have invited writers to listen to it and then act shocked when they, you know, wrote about it.
Silly Lars.
My roommate in college was actually banned from Napster by Metallica. He downloaded some songs from their album where they played with the San Francisco Orchestra. He liked it so much that he promptly bought the album. The ironic thing is, he would have NEVER listened to a Metallica song if not for Napster.