Lars: NewsWeek, May 27th, 2000

My band was recording a song called "I Disappear" for the "Mission: Impossible 2" soundtrack when we heard that six different versions of the song —works in progress —had been made available on Napster. We don't know how the music got out, but somewhere in the chain of things it was leaked. But when we found out that people were trading these songs on this thing called Napster, which we hadn't even heard of, we felt a line had been crossed.

The whole notion of music and art and intellectual property is changing. People have been downloading copyrighted music for a couple years now for free, so they think they have the right to do it. But it isn't a right, it's a privilege. And you only have that privilege because the record industry let this stuff get totally out of control.

This is an argument about intellectual property. Right now we are talking about music. But it could apply to almost anything, from motion pictures to literature to fine art. In a year or two, when the technology advances and you start seeing illegal copies of big-budget mainstream Hollywood movies like "Gladiator" showing up on the Internet, Hollywood will certainly jump into this fight. But it goes beyond that. I mean, where does it end? Should journalists work for free? Should lawyers? Engineers? Plumbers?

The naysayers, the critics of Metallica, keep asking, "Who does Napster hurt?" Well, they're not really hurting us —yet — but I do know who they are hurting already: owners of small independent record stores. We heard from a guy in Syracuse, N.Y. The guy said that since Napster went up a few months ago, his business dropped like 80 percent and he had to shut it down. He said kids were coming into his store, checking out the bins for cool new records and then going home and downloading them instead of buying them.

We've also been hearing about a so-called fan backlash that has occurred as a result of our lawsuit, but I don't think it's any different from other so-called backlashes against us over the past 18 years. There has been a perception since the beginning that we've been a people's band, so to speak. That we are for the fans. I've always had a problem with that. We have always been friendly and connected to our fans, but being connected is very different than doing everything we do because of our fans. The truth is, what we do, we do for ourselves. We don't do it for anybody else. You really have to have that attitude, otherwise it will pollute or distort your creative purity. I've been preaching that same sermon for over 15 years. There is a selfishness in this band, but that leads to more artistic purity. I think people who are our true fans understand that and find that refreshing. You have to isolate yourself from putting the fan in the driver's seat, because we are not a product. We aren't toothpaste.

The bottom line is, Who cares about what people think of us? I don't care. We're doing this because we think it's the right thing to do, period. Other people have different opinions on this subject, people like rapper Chuck D, whom I respect greatly but with whom I totally disagree. We are bewildered by the lack of support from the record industry since we filed the lawsuit. Where are the record companies on this? Individually, virtually no one in the industry has really gone public in support of us. There is clearly a state of chaos in the industry, which has found itself mired in an anarchistic, mob-rules environment. But it's the industry's own fault. Basically the record industry let the boat leave the dock while they weren't watching. I am not pro-record company at all, but people are fantasizing if they think that unsigned bands can take their music to the public in any major way without record-industry backing. No acts from the Internet have ever broken into the wide mainstream. It's a fact.

I've been surprised that more artists haven't come out in support of what we are doing against Napster. Many artists are more concerned with their public images and with the perception of what they do and what they are. We just don't have those issues. We have always done what we want to do, what we believe in. The good thing about all of this is that the public debate is really opening up. At first some people just thought we were the bad guys in this debate, but as soon as I am allowed to explain my position I think most reasonable people understand where I'm coming from.