Spinner

Roger McGuinn Tried to Sway Metallica on Downloads

Metallica might not have faced a well-publicized fan backlash had the band listened to former Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn. When Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was set to testify before Congress against file sharing back in 2000, McGuinn tells Spinner that he tried to convince Ulrich that downloads were the future.

"I talked to Lars, but he didn't seem to get it," says McGuinn, who presented Congress with counter testimony immediately after Metallica. "He was still firmly on the side of the record companies, thinking that people were ripping him off. My attitude was like, 'Hey -- it's the new radio.' You guys ought to be glad when people exploit your stuff and get it around because that means they're going to come to your concerts and buy your merchandise, and you'll make a lot more money that way."

Though 58 at the time -- and a product of the '60s -- McGuinn was ahead of the curve on downloads. Five years earlier, he had launched the Folk Den, a site where he offered free music. To this day, McGuinn still records one traditional folk song a month and offers it there as a free download.

If it seems odd that a 67-year-old would support new technology so much, consider that McGuinn has always been a pioneer. He is responsible the "jingle-jangle" guitar sound and his old band, the Byrds, are credited with kick-starting both psychedelic and country rock. Yet, his stance on downloads had more to do with record labels than technology.

"I'd say 90 percent of artists on record labels don't get money from record companies," says McGuinn, who once worked as a songwriter for $35 a week. "They get it from performances and other things."

McGuinn is disappointed that record labels have more recently gone after YouTube for copyright infringement.

"It's a new radio. It's a new MTV. It's a new media," he says, noting that YouTube provides valuable exposure for music. "To put it down is to shoot yourself in the foot."

While has always supported using technology to advance music, the man who gave us 'Eight Miles High,' 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' and 'Mr. Spaceman' doesn't see any musical value in the 'Rock Band' video games.

"'Rock Band' is not musicianship," he says. "'Rock Band' is hand-eye coordination ... it might be good for timing for a drummer or something, but you're not playing music with that."

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Candace

Udayan:

This piece doesn't say McGuinn wrote "Turn! Turn! Turn!" -- it says he gave it to us. Another words, it's one of his hits. And, as anyone knows, the Byrds are the ones who made that song famous.

Also, they are credited with pioneering psychedelic rock. They may not have been along, but they were one of the earliest. So it's not inaccurate.

October 26 2009 at 3:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Me

I would never do this; however, this is the retro period, and much music from the past is being imitated and/or otherwise recreated. This is due to the fact that there is nothing new out there in the way of music today. New music is just not happening. Oldies are really popular these days. Now people want to steal- which is wrong, nevertheless. Twenty years form now years we will not have "oldies stations" on the radio that will playing the music that was created today. The stuff that is being produced today hardly outlasts itself. It feels good for the moment, but then the CD goes out the car window or in the trash. It's disposable. I'm not condemning it by any means, as it may sound- but it's a fact. Our brains, bodies and moods are at a fixation from the past or we are discovering music our parents were listing to.

October 24 2009 at 6:18 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Udayan

Is the one who wrote this article a professional journalist? I hope not because it is fraught with inaccuracies (clearly seems to be the product of a simple internet look-up on McGuinn and not real research into his work). For example: "Turn, Turn, Turn" is a song by Pete Seeger, popularized by the Byrds (McGuinn). And since when did the Byrds become the originators of psychedelic rock.

October 24 2009 at 6:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joe

The new technology for music sharing is wonderful! I worked for a medium-market station in the early '90s and saw the beginning-of-the-end of radio as we knew it. Many good bands and artists came and went because they couldn't get their lips far enough around the corporate fat a** to get a recording contract. Plus, the record companies dictated what was released as singles to be played on the air. Now, regional artists are given the chance to have their music heard all over the world. I can sample an "unreleased" song on YouTube, and end up buying the CD because of that song, and not the one that is pounded into me on the radio. I'm glad that everyone has an equal chance with today's new media...Rock on Roger!

October 24 2009 at 5:18 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Teresa S.

Brilliant - finally a musician who gets it! You will always be ahead of the curve!

October 24 2009 at 4:47 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dave

roger is completely right. musicians should be proud that people are listening. record companies have been screwing artists for decades; artists make no money from record sells, the money is in performance. maybe when the record companies decline music will come back to what it used to be. the byrds were revolutionary. god bless them!

October 24 2009 at 4:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tom Robinson - Byrds Online (BOAS)

Thank you, Roger, for being so great to all the fans over the years, and thank you, Andy Pratt for 'Resolution', a recording that belongs in everyone's collection.

October 24 2009 at 4:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
americanoutlaw57

This so called free market is only free when it benefits big corporations, if it benefits consumers they make it illegal.

October 24 2009 at 4:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jake A

You don't have to RIP Gene Parsons. He's still alive.

October 24 2009 at 3:30 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bill

I remember when metallica was a garage band. They didnt care back then if people copied their cassettes. When they turned on their fans that way I threw out their albums. I refuse to listen to them. If they come on the radio I change the station. Their music will never be in my house again. Hypocrits

October 24 2009 at 2:28 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply