Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine: “The Dude Who Created Napster Probably Ruined Hundreds Of Thousands Of People’s Lives”
Megadeth vocalist/guitairst Dave Mustaine chatted with Seymourduncan.com about the bands current touring, his gear and more. Perhaps the most interesting subject broached in the chat was Mustaine‘s thoughts on how the internet has changed the music industry.
He had the following reply to that:
“I’m a purist and I don’t want to seem like I don’t care about young people and creativity and doing cool things. I gotta tell you there are certain things that the digital world has made so that very inferior players can get away with sounding like they are good.
The problem with that is not that the record doesn’t sound good and is enjoyable, it’s when you go to watch them live. They sound really fabulous on record because they are using Pro Tools, this whole digital world that cradles them, and the listener is thinking ‘wow these guys are really wonderful.’
The economy right now makes it hard to make ends meet and you go spend $40 or $50 for a ticket – if you’re taking a date then a hundred – and parking, gas, food, beverages, programs if they have them and any kind of merch or t-shirts. You’re looking at maybe $100 to $200, maybe even $300 if you’re taking somebody.
We are fortunate because we can back it up live and we have super-loyal fans. We have been blessed with being able to write catchy songs and be able to innovate a guitar style – that helps a little bit too. We have always tried to keep the price down with the tickets.
It’s the same approach with our merch, tickets, guitars any products that I stand behind we try and take that into consideration. I may have had a great life and I may have been overpaid and underworked but I am not punishing the fans and being a really hard-ass about stuff. So I try and pass that gratitude onto them by not gouging them with prices.
The good thing that I like about the internet is it makes it real easy to deliver your product to your fans at an affordable price. There is piracy and people who steal. They don’t realize it is intellectual material and it is the same thing as food. Giving something to get, that’s the deal – if you get something and the person doesn’t get anything in return that is either a gift or you are stealing it.
Myself, I think the dude who created Napster probably ruined hundreds of thousands of people’s lives because of that peer-to-peer file transferring, but if he hadn’t done it, there are plenty of smart people out there who would have. It’s human nature.”
COMMENTS
That guy probably improved the lives of millions. Did Mustaine get kicked out of Metallica for being a follower of Aunt Rand?
AYN RAND, damn auto-correct.
Aunt Rand is funnier for some reason.
Nah. He got booted because there can only be one King Douchequeef and Lars wasn’t willing to share the title.
^truth
Too bad Lars didn’t stick with Tennis. If Metallica had a real drummer, maybe the chemistry would have worked out to where Dave stayed in the band. Regardless of his statements or bravado, Dave is without question the most talented member that Metallica has ever had. Don’t confuse success for talent.
I prefer Kirk with Metallica IMO, not saying Kirk is better than Dave, he’s not but I think Kirk is a better fit.
Who the fuck buys, let alone creates, concert programs?
Dave was confusing metal concerts with the Ice Capades.
Dave is a “purist”. That’s code for an anal retentive dick-nose.
Crucify him!!!
“the digital world has made so that very inferior players can get away with sounding like they are good.” First thing that came to mind was Chino’s horrible live vocals compared to his album vocals. Chino in the studio is like putting lipstick on a pig.
nah, more like putting supermodels through photoshop. The hotness is there most of the time.
U calling Chino hot? “Ugh, gay!” *Stewie Griffin voice*
simmer down, labonte. Purely metaphorical.
Chino always sounded great live till he blew out his voice.
dude, seriously, how old are you? all of your posts make you sound like you’re fucking 13.
I’m not reading his rant. But. As a college students I think we should be tormenting our books $200 bucks for a 10 year old book that is used is fucking ridiculous!
You must be in your first two years, ‘cuz I ain’t buy shit after my junior year, unless they allowed previous editions. PowerPoints on Blackboard FTW.
I do too, 97 new edition or 20 for an edition from a year ago I’m paying 20! I got an intro to quality class they want us to drop like $160 for a book that’s maybe 200 pages ATM and the book completely changed. For that amount of money I may as well spend a day at a copier!
If you need to get a math book, check Amazon for the teachers edition. It has all of the answers, not just odd or even-only.
GI Bill, son.
Let the record show that Wurst loves socialism.
I have stacks of books from 400 level biology and NRM classes. Powerpoints are great but they typically only include about 1/2 of the material I’m required to know because bio. profs can be dicks like that. Only one class comes to mind that was strictly powerpoint. It just depends on what you’re studying though. If my major wasn’t heavy on the natural science, I probably wouldn’t have bought books either.
Kidding. I used normal government loans to pay for school, that was before the military.
I wouldn’t blame Napster for ruining people’s lives… Napster was more of the result of poor planning from the record companies…
Napster and downloading also enriched hundreds of thousands of lives… bands like Mindless Self Indulgence, and countless others would still be playing in local bars if it wasn’t for the internet’s ability to spread the word…
Someone should have realized they can’t stop it by now…
Napster helped MSI? Well then, fuck you Napster.
Old people who don’t understand the internet. News @ 11.
It’s only a matter of time before MegaDave memes start popping up.
Does he realize how many jobs Napster and that technology created ? Dave needs to think about others a little bit insted of just himself…and keeping ticket prices down ? I was going to go to this years Gigantour when it came around but immediately got turned off at the almost $80 with service fees entrance fee.
It appears that many of the posters here were mislead by the title of the article. This displays an uncomfortable ratio of people that actually read and understood the article. The bulk of this article is not about Napster or peer-to-peer sharing. It’s about groups coming up in the digital age and using the technology as a crutch, instead of honing their skills and providing their audience with a good, reliable and consistent product.
And on a side note, while I do find concert programs an odd item to find at a concert, I have seen them before from bigger bands such as Metallica, Maiden, Roger Waters, etc. I doubt you’ll find something of the like at a little club, but yes, bigger bands have been known to do it.
napster? welcome to 2001
Bands that suck live……..>——-see coal chamber post above———-<
I’m looking forward to his interview on KaZaa and Limewire in 2014.
KaZaa….damn.
You just wait until Dave finds out about torrents! He’s gonna be so mad when he realizes i don’t even have to search for his shitty music…just click on Megadeth Discography, and all of his life’s work on my computer in minutes.
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