Metallica and Napster

I know, it's so 2000.

I like Metallica's music. I think they're talented guys. But I've been against them since the whole Napster thing, mostly in an uninformed way. Anyway, it occurred to me that for all of my badmouthing Metallica, I'd never actually read their position. My thoughts:

- actually, the origin of the leak must have been in their studio somewhere.
- if Metallica wants money for their music, that's their prerogative.
- you know if you've been reading my site that my biggest objection in this whole thing is to the RIAA and their parasitism as the middle men in the system. We, the consumers, need a change in business and distribution. We deserve it. The fact that there hasn't been a viable alternative for so long points up the monopolistic nature of the RIAA.
- the music industry, as it currently stands, is not diverse enough. Too much of what is put out is just the offscouring of the machine. 'We need more boy bands!'
- intellectual property is valuable and important. But it shouldn't last forever. Out copyright system is too restricting. And how can we really stop China from 'stealing' intellectual property?
- everyone knows that CDs have gone down in price to make, but that savings hasn't been passed on to the consumers. Why should we trust the RIAA to pass on mp3 savings without pressure?

Well, I think that about covers it for now. What do you think?

(Also, I posted about Justin Frankel, the creator of Winamp and Gnutella, over on Collaboratory.)