Filter's Patrick Speaks On Napster Issue
Filter frontman Richard Patrick can now be added to the list of recording artists who are speaking out against online music distribution company, Napster.
Several artists including Metallica and Dr. Dre have already voiced their opinions on Napster, through legal channels and otherwise. Although he is not involved in any legal proceedings with the tech company at the moment, Filter frontman Richard Patrick has seen fit to speak his mind on the topic of Napster and what its technology could mean to recording artists.
Napster's Web site gives users a simple interface through which to search for and download MP3s of their favorite songs at no cost. In an interview Thursday with the MTV Radio Network, Richard Patrick addressed his fans in an effort to help them understand the impact of using the technology.
[article id="1444068"]"I wanna stress this to the kids,"[/article] Patrick began. "It
costs so much money for us to make records. It costs almost a million dollars to do a video. [The cost to record Filter's album] was -- I'll be straight up -- it was like $700,000. Okay?
[article id="1444068"]"If you go out and you steal sh** from the Internet,"[/article] he continued, [article id="1444068"]"bad MP3 files, get pirated copies, all you're doing is taking a big sh** on us as a band. And if you're really fans of the music and you love us, don't rip us off like this. And we will sue these people."[/article]Richard also stated firmly that he will stand by the artists who have already spoken out against Napster.
[article id="1444068"]"I will stand behind Lars from Metallica,"[/article] the Filter frontman said. [article id="1444068"]"I will stand behind Dr. Dre. I will stand behind anybody that wants to do this, because this is our livelihood. And you know, it's one thing when you get a
crappy cassette copy from your buddy down the street... now it's digital quality reproductions, blah, blah, blah." [RealAudio][/article]
Napster has been under fire recently with a lawsuit that was filed on April 13 by Metallica and co-plaintiffs Creeping Death and E/M Ventures. The suit claims that the online music distribution site encouraged visitors "to unlawfully exchange with others copyrighted songs and sound recordings without the knowledge or permission of Metallica" (see [article id="1432069"]"Metallica Drops Yale From Napster Suit"[/article]).
Less than one week later, Dr. Dre and his lawyers issued a letter to Napster giving the site until Friday to remove the rapper's songs from its pool of available MP3s (see [article id="1428254"]"Dr. Dre Slaps Napster With Warning"[/article]).
For additional discussion of Napster, check out "I Want My MP3, In Choose
Or Lose".
For complete digital music coverage, check out the Digital Music Reports.
