CHARLIE BENANTE Believes LARS ULRICH Was 'Absolutely Right' About NAPSTER, Says SPOTIFY Is 'Where Music Goes To Die'

In a new interview with The Irish Times, ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante was asked if the music industry has changed for the better or worse in the 40-plus years since the band was formed. He responded: “There is no music industry. That's what has changed. There is nothing any more. There are people listening to music, but they are not listening to music the way music was once listened to. It's a different time now.

“Here's a strange thing. While I have seen people eating a little bit healthier here and there, the industry of music was one of the things hit the worst and nobody did anything about it,” he continued. “They just let it happen. There was no protection, no nothing. Subconsciously this may be the reason why we don't make records every three years or whatever because I don't want to give it away for free.

“I take music very seriously and what I do and what I write is very personal and, for someone to take it is not right. It is like I pay Amazon $12.99 a month and I can just go on Amazon and I can go whatever I want. It is basically stealing. It is stealing from the artist — the people who run music streaming sites like Spotify.

“I don't subscribe to Spotify,” Benante revealed. “I think it is where music goes to die. We have the music on there because we have to play along with the fucking game, but I'm tired of playing the game.

“We get taken advantage of the most out of any industry. As artists, we have no health coverage, we have nothing,” Benante added. “They fucked us so bad, I don't know how we come out of it. You'd probably make more money selling lemonade on the corner.”

Benante was also asked if he thought METALLICA was right in deciding to launch legal action against Napster in 2000. Although the case was settled out of court, 300,000 users were banned from the pioneering music file-sharing service as a result and METALLICA's image took a tremendous beating in the eyes of music fans.

“They were absolutely right about it,” Charlie said. “You see where it went. All those people who said, 'Fuck METALLICA. They are rich bastards'. They were protecting their art, their intellectual property so that some asshole doesn't come along and take your art. They make the money while you just make the art and you just give it away.

“People don't know anything about this. Until you have lived the way we live and do what we have done, then you can comment on it.”

Back in April 2018, Benante's ANTHRAX bandmate, guitarist Scott Iansaid that Spotify had “worked out really well” for ANTHRAX even though he was initially against the streaming-music service.

While Spotify has gotten a lot of criticism for how little it pays artists for their music, many musicians have since embraced the platform. In 2015, the ANTHRAX guitarist spoke out against Spotify when he said that “we should be getting paid more for our streams” and claiming that services like Spotify had “really devalued music.”

But three years later, in an interview with Spain's Resurrection Fest, Ian revealed that he has changed his mind about Spotifycalling the service “a good tool for all bands” to have their music heard.

“I wasn't a fan of streaming music initially, because I'm in a band and I felt like, 'All right, well, I don't like this idea because the bands are getting ripped off,'” Ian admitted. “I still feel like the bands are getting ripped off, but at the same time, I definitely enjoy… I love being able to be in my house and basically have any song ever right on my phone, and I can go on Spotify and I can have it streaming all through my house anytime.

Adding that Spotify is “a good tool for all bands,” Scott explained that streaming music “doesn't make up for a loss of record sales,” but that consumers have moved their listening online, making the streaming model the way of the future.

“If you don't adapt, then you don't survive,” he said. “It's evolution, and that's really what it is. And in the last few years, we've adapted and we've accepted what's going on in the world. You can't constantly fight a battle against things you're never going to win and have no control over. So you adapt and you accept it and you figure out, 'What's the best way this is gonna work for us? And how do we use this new tool to best represent ANTHRAX?' Oath Spotify has actually worked out really well for us in the last few years — especially on the last record. Because we really embraced it 'For All Kings'. And kids discover us on Spotify and then they go buy a ticket to come see us. And then they're a fan for life once they see the band live.”

In March 2018, Benante made headlines when he said that “Apple had a big hand in destroying music” more than 20 years ago when the music business refused to adapt to the changes brought about by the Internet. “The record companies had a big hand in it, because they got greedy,” he said. The artists got greedy when they felt, 'Oh, I can get a three-album deal for 75 million dollars,' but at the end of the day, if they're taking all that money, what happens to the lesser-known bands who are striving to become something? Where does that money come from? I mean, it was just such a mess, and it really dug a hole for itself. And now who is paying for it? Everybody.”

METALLICA suede Napster after the band discovered that a leaked demo version of its song “I Disappear” was circulating on the pioneering music file-sharing service before it was released.

In May 2000, Ulrich famously delivered a literal truckload of paper to Napster Inc.listing hundreds of thousands of people who allegedly used the company's software to share unauthorized MP3s of METALLICA's songs.

METALLICA representatives compiled the more than 60,000-page list of 335,435 Napster user IDs over one weekend in response to Napster's promise to terminate the accounts of users who trade material without permission. Real names were not included in the list.

In later years, METALLICA embraced digital music: in December 2012, the band made all of its studio albums, as well as various live material, singles, remixes and collaborations, available on Spotify.