Metallica: “Don’t REVIEW Our Music!”

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Metallica: “Don’t REVIEW Our Music!”

The heavy metal group, Metallica, best know for such hits as “We Hate Napster” and “P2P Is Teh Evil”, are at it again. Recently they invited music critics in London to preview six tracks from their soon-to-be-pira… released album. Normally those critics would then write their reviews, however, Metallica has contacted the blogs reviewing the songs and have asked them to take down said reviews, even though the critics were not under a Non-Disclosure Agreement of any sort.

As Ars Technica puts it..

Actually, “asked” may be a polite way of putting it. The music blog Blinded by the Hype contacted The Quietus, one of the blogs that had run a review, wondering what had happened to the piece. The answer, from editor Luke Turner, was clear. “The Quietus kept our article up the longest and, as no nondisclosure agreement had been signed,” he wrote, “[we were] not prepared to remove it merely due to the demands of Metallica’s management. We only removed the article earlier today to protect the professional interests of the writer concerned.”

Metallica’s management and PR team knew who the (anonymous) writer of the piece was, as they invited him; if they chose to do so, they could probably make his livelihood more difficult to earn in the future. The Quietus decided to pull the review and replace it with a cheeky note and an old interview with the band. Wired’s Listening Post blog, which has followed the story, notes that this isn’t just about being jerks; management claims that the tracks in question were a rough mix that weren’t ready for prime time, which perfectly explains why they invited journalists to come hear them.

[Source Ars Technica]

Rob’s Opinion: Truth be told, I like a few of Metallica’s songs. A FEW. However, if you are a music artist and your songs are not ready for prime time, DO NOT INVITE BLOGGERS OR ANY SORT OF CRITICS TO LISTEN TO THEM. Invite your friends and family. Unless of course your friends and family hate your music, in which case I can understand why they are bitter toward the people that actually WANT to listen to their work.

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