Weak bloggers cave in to Metallica's new album non-review demands

Digital Music, Intellectual Property, Internet, Websites
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metallica-album-release-pr-review-shame.jpgThis story’s a bit of a mess. We know some UK bloggers were invited to listen to an “unmixed” demo of the new Metallica album and weren’t required to sign any non-disclosure agreements or stick to an embargo regarding what they heard.

Which meant they could all, quite legally, tell the world all about it on their blogs.

So sites like The Quietus ran with reviews (cached version here) – only to get told to take them down shortly afterwards. This has, predictably enough, turned into a mammoth Metallica HATE-FEST with everyone blaming the put-upon band for trying to break the internet again.

On the official Metallica forum, among such posts as “How many people listen to nothing but Metallica?” and “Metallica Breakfast Cereal” is this thread about the situation, in which fans try to work out who’s being the review Nazi and trying to stop the free press from having its say.

It seems that the UK PR agency handling the listening event messed up, forgot to get the bloggers to sign NDAs, then got a bit heavy-handed when they started telling kids if it’s a “buyer” or just a “downloader.” The only remaining preview/review is over on Kerrang – and it’s suspiciously positive. And an advert for the next issue of its magazine. The PR world is an odd place.

(Via Wired)

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Gary Cutlack
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2 comments

  • i don’t think anyone “forgot” to get anything signed – and i don’t think NDA’s were ever in the frame – how heavy handed would that have been? It seems few long lead magazine journalists were invited to hear unfinished tracks to help them with features they were writing. they were asked in advance not to review as they would be hearing unfinished tracks, and were not made to sign anything as they were thought to be trustworthy. Also it appears no “demands” or writs were served to get them to take stories down, just a polite phone call. No one complained bar one new website who perhaps for their own publicity ends decided to make a fuss.

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