METALLICA Drummer Lars Ulrich Talks About Warner Music Deal, Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger; Video Available
March 24, 2009, 15 years ago
METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich spoke to Todd Martens from Latimes.com recently about a number of topics including their relationship with its longtime label Warner Music Group and the proposed Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger.
When asked if the band needed a major label, Ulrich, despite being surrounded by Warner reps, didn't mince words. "Without offending any of the good people from the record company in the room, no," Ulrich said. "Let's cut to the chase. . . . The primary - not the only, but the primary - function of a record label is to act as a bank. When you're fortunate enough to be successful and so on, you don't need to rely on record companies as the banks."
Metallica has historically worked with multiple promoters on its tours, a label representative said. "We haven't sold out to Live Nation, and we are certainly not planning on it," Ulrich reacts about the proposed merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. "And we are very, very fortunate that we do not need what they offer to continue to be who we are.
"Certainly, some of the practices that come in the wake of this -- like direct reselling and all the stuff that Bruce was up against in January and some of these other things -- obviously are very distasteful, and downright . . . it's just ripping people off," he added. "It's impure. So obviously I'd stand up and scream from every rooftop that I think that's . . . impure."Read more here.
Check out the video below:
