Metallica’s entire catalogue is back on Napster – 16 years after the famous legal battle over copyright.
The thrash icons filed a lawsuit against the former peer-to-peer file-sharing network in 2000 which saw the US District Court for the Northern District of California rule in the band’s favour.
Napster were eventually forced into liquidation, but eventually returned as a streaming service.
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Napster says in a statement issued to Billboard: “The release of Metallica’s new album comes at an incredible time for streaming music with streaming subscriptions accounting for almost half of industry sales in the first half of 2016.
“Today, Napster is a legal, paid subscription service with a catalog of over 40 million tracks. We are thrilled to bring Metallica’s full catalogue – including their latest new album – to Napster subscribers around the world.”
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Metallica took on Napster after it was discovered that their song I Disappear – recorded for the Mission: Impossible II soundtrack – was being shared via the P2P service. They later realised all of their material was on Napster and launched the legal proceedings.
Metallica release their 10th album Hardwired… To Self-Destruct on November 18 (Friday) with an intimate show in London that’s to be streamed live across the world.
Meanwhile, Metallica have confirmed they will issue new videos for every song on Hardwired… To Self-Destruct between today (November 16) and tomorrow. They previously unveiled promos for the songs Hardwired, Moth Into Flame and Atlas, Rise!
The schedule for the next video releases can be found on their website.
Metallica are the cover stars of the latest edition of Metal Hammer, on sale now in print and via TeamRock+.
