Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

I am a big fan of artists providing music DRM-free and in a lossless format. More and more artists are doing this. In my search for DRM-free music, I came across Metallica’s website and was surprised to find free concert downloads. If you remember, Metallica had always been reticent and digital and online music. In 2003, they finally agreed to offer their songs on iTunes for purchase. They maintained that their albums were works of art in their entirety and should not be purchased as individual songs. In 2004, they took their online presence one step further and started offering concert downloads.

LiveMetallica.com offers downloads of high quality soundboard recordings of complete concerts of nearly every Metallica show since 2004 AND free monthly downloads from earlier shows. More recent concerts are offered for purchase without digital rights management and as either mp3 and FLAC files. This service allows fans to buy and download files of soundboard recordings from current Metallica tours very soon after the show have happened. These audio recordings are mixed and mastered each night by the band’s sound engineers.

According to the site:

No one’s making a lot of money on this little wing-ding. There are a number of costs specific to each download, including publishing fees, bandwidth costs, credit card fees, venue origination fees and venue union fees. In addition to these show specific costs, there are general expenses such as hardware and software purchases/licenses and ongoing programming/design fees. In total, there are substantial costs associated with launching and maintaining this service, and its future viability depends on honest participation.