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After Metallica revealed their “Revolutionary Pricing Tiers” for their Mission: Metallica experience the parallels between Microsoft and Metallica got scary.

Why am I calling Metallica the Microsoft of music. Well, firstly, both Microsoft and Metallica have had a troubled relationship with the internet. Recently for Microsoft, the Yahoo debacle has drawn attention to the company’s online failures. Historically, in 1995 Bill Gates all but ignored the internet when writing The Road Ahead. A year later in an ArtForum article R.U. Sirius (that’s a pen name, right?) wrote about Gates and the internet:

Among early hackers, Gates was famous for his militant stance against free software. His opponents in the hacker community pointed out the difficulty in charging money for something that was trivial to copy. Gates, of course, has become one of the richest men in the world doing just that. But his gorge rises every month as millions more log on.

In 2000 Metallica had become one of the richest bands in the world doing exactly the same thing. Except then Metallica’s gorge rose to the level that they felt they had to sue Napster and name the people/fans who had used the service to share their music. Today, that move is seen by many as the biggest strategic mistake the music industry could have made in terms of its business in the digital age. As to Metallica, the hit to their reputation is still being felt. If you need proof go read this latest post about Metallica on Listening Post.

So, historically it could be argued that both Metallica and Microsoft have failed to “get” the internet. But that’s not what finally made me wake up to the parallel. It was those Mission: Metallica’s “revolutionary pricing tiers” that Idolator reported. Haven”t we seen this approach somewhere before?

Mission: Metallica Pricing Tiers <—> Windows Vista
(more on Listening Post)
Free membership                  Windows Vista Starter
Digital Album                       Windows Vista Home Basic
CD Album                            Windows Vista Home Premium
Platinum membership          Windows Vista Business
(variable pricing)                  Windows Vista Enterprise
Mp3                                      Windows Vista Ultimate
Mp3 + CD
Mp3 + CD + Vinyl

Yep, Metallica sure ain’t no Radiohead or NIN - or Apple:

Posted in Music, Opinion, Uncategorized