Update on Beatallica

What can I say. In the past day, a lot has been happening with Beatallica, and all of it good. Boing Boing has a story on the ongoing legal dispute between Sony and Beatallica, on which some rather good news has sprung forth.

From Boing Boing:

"On the NPR program "Day to Day" today, I report on Beatallica, the Milwaukee-based parody band known for Metallica-infused covers of Beatles songs. As reported previously here on Boing Boing, Sony Music accused them of violating copyright laws, demanded that their webmaster pay "unspecified damages," and forced the band's ISP to shut down their website. The band known for tunes such as "I Want to Choke Your Band" and "Leper Madonna" reached out to Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. Thanks to his efforts, Beatallica will soon be back online, and the legal debacle over. Ulrich volunteered to provide assistance with legal negotiations for Beatallica, and asked Metallica's longtime attorney Peter Paterno to try and defuse the situation with Sony on behalf of the dudes from Milwaukee. And now, Sony has agreed to drop the case. Mr. Ulrich is no stranger to matters of intellectual property law and the internet. Five years ago, he stood on the steps of Napster, Inc., hauling boxes full of 300,000 names: all people he said were using Napster to "steal" Metallica tunes. But things have changed. That debate was about who profited from Metallica's music, he says, and this one is about creative rights at the heart of rock and roll itself. Ulrich says he believes that cover bands, mash-ups, and the right to re-interpret art on the internet are things worth fighting for. Thanks in part to Lars, expect to see beatallica.org online again -- with a new song release -- this week."

Now it must be said that the last line reported is a bit erroneous and that Beatallica.com will not be up for a couple more weeks at least, as the talks are still ongoing, but the new song release has been delayed since this all came about, so it is, naturally, fact that a new song will be released once the site is back online, its just too early to tell when exactly that will be. But obviously this is good news, especially since Lars has decided to take a vocal stance on the issue and has given Beatallica full use of Metallica's legal team. While I don't care for their corporate stance on their band's dealings, I have to give full appreciation and gratitude to Metallica for helping a band I totally enjoy fight the music industry's stranglehold on originality. Rock on.

I am still willing to fulfill anyone's need for Beatallica's music, so if you're interested, shoot an email to sharingbeatallica@gmail.com and I'll get it to you.