New Metallica Album.com

Tickets for Ozzfest this summer will go on PRE-Sale this friday through MYSpace. There will be two password boxes to choose from when you follow the link below to the Ticketmaster page. One ALL ACCESS password box for purchasing regular event tickets and one ALL ACCESS password box for the purchasing the VIP packages.

Both boxes will be marked ALL ACCESS. One will be noted as all access VIP packages. The password OZZY will work in either of those ALL ACCESS boxes. There is a 4 ticket limit on the VIP packages – 1 Parking Pass per VIP order.

ALL ACCESS PRESALE:

Start: Fri, 05/30/08 10:00 AM CDT
End: Fri, 05/30/08 10:00 PM CDT

PASSWORD – OZZY    (non case sensitive)

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Warner Music Group Corp.’s shareholders must be happy to see that Metallica, one of the company’s top-selling acts, is promoting an album that won’t come out for at least four months. The feeling may not last too long.

Metallica yesterday introduced a Web site with “fly on the wall footage of writing and recording” its ninth studio album, due in the U.S. fall season. The San Francisco-based band has sold about 100 million copies of its recordings since 1981.

The pending release will be the last under Metallica’s contract with Warner, which has put out its albums since 1984. Chief Executive Officer Edgar Bronfman Jr. declined to comment on the status of talks with the band when the New York-based company held a quarterly conference call earlier this month.

Metallica’s future at Warner may be short-lived. (more…)

Metallica’s latest foray into “bleed the fans of every last drop” has just launched and it’s called Mission Metallica. The bands latest ‘mission’ allows fans to watch several commercials over the coming months until the album is released in September. Most bands would upload their videos to MySpace or Youtube from their studio sessions…not corporate giants Metallica. Metallica wants you to pay up to $124.95 to watch them create their latest studio opus.

One would think Metallica would use a bit of tact and give what fans they have left a bone. After the mountain of a shitstorm they caused going after fans for filetrading, it is time Metallica offers an olive branch and let all fans view the studio footage without paying up to $124.95. -thegauntlet.com

You have to believe Lars is enjoying this moment. By now you all know about the platinum experience and album pre-sale on MissionMetallica.com with packages priced upto $124.95. Metallica decided they were not going to get beat by piracy, and it looks like they won’t be.

Normally albums are released on a Tuesday at 12 a.m. By 12:30 a.m. they are all over the torrent sights and internet for downloading. Well this time around it should be available by 12:02 a.m. and in high digital quality thanks to the digital download they are providing. How will they thwart piracy, well that’s the genius.

By selling the missionmetallica platinum packages, they win the battle. The most likely package people will buy is the $24.99 (platinum experience and digital download) or $32.99 (platinum experience, digital download, and physical CD) with packages upto $124.99. Usual first day CD prices are $9.99-$12.99. So on average, people will be paying at least two and a half to three and a half times the regular price depending on which package they buy. The usually free material found on ‘making of the album’ DVDs that bands release is what will be found in the Platinum MissionMetallica experience which in essence they are selling. So if they get at least two and a half times the money for each package purchased, they can afford to have at least half the normal sales downloaded for free and still clear the same money as if everyone bought it.  

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In what promises to be an exciting and innovative interactive experience for fans of Metallica, the band has announced it will launch a brand-new website, Mission Metallica (http://www.missionmetallica.com/), which offers users a unique, ground-breaking look-in on the making of Metallica’s upcoming ninth studio album, which the band began recording last year with producer Rick Rubin.

Rather than wait until the album’s fall release date, fans will be able to access a special-edition version of the album before it comes out by joining missionmetallica.com. Set to launch on May 27th, the website will feature a treasure trove of exclusive content, including the low-down from the band members themselves about their progress in the studio via fly-on-the-wall video footage, audio of riffs and excerpts of new songs, exclusive new and never-before-seen archival photos from the studio, plus the chance to win tickets and meet-and-greet passes to Metallica’s live concert events this summer. All of this content is absolutely free.

And if that free content isn’t enough, fans can also join Mission: Metallica Platinum, which gains users access, high-quality digital album downloads delivered at midnight on release date, the physical album CD, plus complete downloads of classic live shows, exceedingly more fly-on-the-wall studio footage, loads of additional photos, and ringtones of riffs from the new album. In addition, Platinum members will be able to enter exclusive contests with the chance to win airfare, hotel, concert tickets, and meet-and-greet passes to Metallica’s headlining performances at this year’s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Ozzfest, and the U.K.’s Reading Festival, as well as a special album listening party at the band’s Northern California headquarters.

Access to missionmetallica.com will begin on May 27th. The album + web content packages will be made available in the following six configurations:

--  MISSION: METALLICA. Includes fly-on-the-wall footage, riffs and
    excerpts, new and archival photos, unique live tracks, audio and video blog
    postings, plus the chance to win concert tickets and backstage passes.
    Cost: FREE.

--  HIGH-QUALITY DIGITAL ALBUM DOWNLOAD. Package includes a digital
    version of the album at 320 KBIT/S, which is a better sound quality than
    what is available through most digital retailers. Users can pre-order the
    album download, delivered at midnight on street date. Cost: $11.99. (more...)

The last three shows (Wiltern*, Tucson, and Irvine) are now available for download at LIVEMETALLICA.COM. The European shows are next and you can pre-order any or all of them at a 10% discount right now.
*All profits from the sale of the Wiltern show will benefit the Silverlake Conservatory of Music.

We’re psyched to play a large festival here in the States (for a change!), so we thought it would be fun to have a fun contest where you can win tickets to Bonnaroo . . . For your chance to win Bonnaroo tickets, provide a thoughtful answer to the following question:

If you can share a tent with anyone at Bonnaroo, who would it be and why?

Please e-mail your answer in 50 words or less to bonnaroo@metclub.com. You have until 11:59pm Pacific Time on Thursday, May 29 to submit your answer. Winners will be chosen by the Metallica HQ staff based on creativity and if we actually like the damn person you pick! In your e-mail, please include your full name and contact phone number. Only one e-mail entry per person. Winners will be notified via e-mail by Friday, May 30.

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James was interviewed at the KROQ Weenie Roast. See both parts..

Part I

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Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Kiss among 1980s acts leading genre’s resurgence

Turn the volume to 11 and set the pyrotechnics to stun. For those ageing fans about to rock, perhaps less energetically than before, the concert promoters and marketing men salute you.

Metallica’s upcoming ninth studio album, the band’s first release through Warner Bros. Records, is expected to be released in September. The belated follow-up to 2003’s St Anger is only a “couple of nips and tucks” away from completion, said drummer Lars Ulrich. The record will be the band’s first studio album in five years, as well as the first to feature current bassist Robert Trujillo. Rick Rubin replaces the worn-out-his-welcome Bob Rock on the boards this time around, marking a potential turning point in the bands sound. From the sound of things, Rubin’s golden touch could be just what the band needs to take their sound to the next level.

After entering the studio with 26 new songs on tap, Rubin helped the metal gods whittle the list down to 14. It’s likely that only ten songs will make the cut due to disc capacity. That should give some exciting indication of the length of these songs. (more…)

Metallica Allowing Fans To Pre-Order The New Album

METALLICA has issued the following update:

“Enough already…we’ve seen everything in this little preview of yours…let’s get on with it! Okay, okay…on May 27th Mission: Metallica becomes our way to bring you in and share with you not only the writing and recording process that’s been taking place in the last 18 months, but also what’s ahead between now and when the record is in your hands. And instead of waiting and releasing some “making of the record” additional DVD in a bullshit deluxe package when the album comes out, we figured why not let you be part of it up front?

“Here’s the deal…Mission: Metallica is your chance to be on the inside of the new album with fly on the wall video footage, riffs and excepts of the music, studio photos, cool contests, and some trips back in time to Lars’ vault with live downloads and rare photos. You’re going to be part of the experience over the next four months or so as we put the finishing touches on the album, including mixing, mastering, artwork, photo sessions, etc. (more…)

According to Metallicapage.de, the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung BZ reported this past Wednesday (May 21) that METALLICA will be the first band to perform at the new O2 World arena in Berlin on September 12. It should be noted, however, that METALLICA has not yet officially announced any shows beyond its August 24 appearance at the Reading festival in Reading, UK. – Blabbermouth

See the latest Fly on the Wall Footage from MissionMetallica.com. It seems to reveal a new riff or it may possibly be related to ‘The New Song’. Not much new action otherwise. See the video here.    (more…)