Metallica lawyer maintains that Napster were “basically thieves”
Peter Paterno, the lawyer of Metallica during their controversial Napster lawsuit in 2000, has maintained that their actions were necessary to “set the ground rules for what music is worth”.
The case began after the band discovered that radio stations were playing a demo version of their track ‘I Disappear’ without permission. The source of the leak was traced, and the file was found on Napster’s peer-to-peer file-sharing network alongside their entire catalogue, which was also freely available.
The lawsuit claimed that Napster had violated three areas of the law, copyright infringement, unlawful use of digital audio interface device and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Eventually, Napster filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated in 2002.
In a recent interview with Variety, Paterno maintained that Metallica’s legal action was ultimately “fair”.
He said: “Because they were basically thieves! It’s not a popular opinion. The popular opinion now is a sort of revisionist history that we shouldn’t have sued Napster, we should have worked something out with them — well, no, there was nothing to work out with them.”
“‘You could have made a deal.’ What was the deal?” Paterno continued. “People were getting music for free. It was really necessary in order to set the ground rules for what music is worth. Those fans aren’t fans — fans pay for music and appreciate its value. It’s like Dre said when we told him about Napster,’ he said, ‘I work 24/7 in the lab and these guys just steal it? Screw them.”
According to Paterno, the rise of file-sharing sites like Napster led to a significant drop in music industry revenue. “We went from a business that was doing $30billion a year to doing a third of that in three or four years,” he asserted. “People’s creativity [was] not being rewarded. I’ve never agreed with that.”
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