Metallica Manager Calls YouTube ‘The Devil’


Metallica at a packed concert this week at Shanghai's Mercedes-Benz Arena.

Metallica Manager Criticizes YouTube For ‘Killing’ The Music Industry 

Metallica manager, Peter Mensch, described YouTube as “the devil” recently and says the video streaming sites are killing the music industry. Mensch, who also manages Muse and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, believes YouTube’s advert-reliant business model isn’t sustainable and will eventually be the death of music.

“YouTube, they’re the devil. If someone doesn’t do something about YouTube, we’re screwed. It’s over. Someone turn off the lights,” says Mensch. “It’s hard to make people pay for what they’ve been getting for free. That’s consumer behavior 101.”

His comments were backed up by the 2016 International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) annual report, which tells of a widening “value gap” between the volume of music consumed on free web services and the amount of revenue they generate for the industry.

The BBC reports that 900 million consumers on sites like Spotify and YouTube generated £447m of revenue in 2015, while the world’s 68 million paying music subscribers generated about £1.4bn.

YouTube CEO Robert Kynci responded by saying artists were not seeing big returns payments because of the agreements they had with their record labels. “It really depends on what is the flow of the money from us to you.” Kynci responded. “The artists who are signed up directly with YouTube are seeing great returns. Not everybody – but if you’re generating a lot of viewership, you’re making a lot of money.”

Metallica has long been at odds with popular trends among music fans. Drummer Lars Ulrich has famously been mocked for fronting the anti-piracy movement, but some industry experts are reevaluating his opinion in light of recent developments.


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Kossi

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