Metallica Sued Napster For This? (original) (raw)

from the pound-foolish dept

David Levine has a post up looking at Metallica’s revenue streams last year. Apparently, the band made the vast majority of its money from concert revenue — bringing in 22.8million.Itmade22.8 million. It made 22.8million.Itmade1.6 million from album sales. As Levine notes:

Hmmm…think it would make a lot of difference to the world if they lost the 1.6millionfromthealbums?Withoutcopyrightthey’donlymake1.6 million from the albums? Without copyright they’d only make 1.6millionfromthealbums?Withoutcopyrightthey’donlymake22.8 million from touring…You might almost think it would be worth it to them to give the recorded music away for free to promote their concerts…

Or, hell, give away the tracks and promote other stuff as well. Selling music directly (relying on copyright) is a tiny business compared to the opportunities elsewhere. And, of all the bands out there, Metallica should clearly recognize that.

Filed Under: album sales, copyright, live, metallica, revenue