“ Sad But True ”: Why Metallica ’ s Fans Continue to Fail Them ( and Not Vice Versa ) Twenty Years After the Napster Lawsuit
COLLECTIVIST IDEOLOGIES ARE KILLING COPYRIGHT ( AND OUR METAL HEROES )
In short , it my opinion that Metallica fans and other metal fans unfairly and , likely , unconsciously turned against the band in the wake of its lawsuit against Napster . Why did they do this ? Breaking down all the analysis on the subject , I submit that Metallica ’ s fans failed them for one essential reason . Fundamentally and unbelievably , they felt betrayed because their favorite band enjoyed commercial success . The resentment that ensued from this unfortunate sentiment led the once fiercely loyal fans to feel entitled to pilfer the band ’ s digital recordings , and then lash out when Metallica did the only rational thing to protect their investment�file a copyright infringement lawsuit .
How did these feelings of resentment , entitlement , and lack of respect for artists who create great musical and other creative works occur ? I attribute it , in part , to the widespread proliferation of the bizarre notion that the “ author is dead ,” as promulgated by those in the academy , beginning with the French historian / post-structuralist Michel Foucault in the late ’ 60s . In his infamous article in the field of literary criticism , “ What is an Author ?” Foucault asserts that :
We must entirely reverse the traditional idea of the author . We are accustomed , as we have seen earlier , to saying that the author is the genial creator of a work in which he deposits , with infinite wealth and generosity , an inexhaustible world of significations . We are used to thinking that the author is so different from all other men , and so transcendent with regard to all languages that , as soon as he speaks , meaning begins
19