Metallica are to offer hours of music to fans via www.metallicavault.com. In association with Seattle based internet company Speakeasy, the band will offer live recordings, demos, b-sides and full-length concert footage for free to anyone who purchases the band's new album, 'St. Anger'. Each bought copy of the album will have a passcode on the sleeve that allows the punter to access the 66 free tracks. All in all, fans are getting a good deal - the album already comes with more than 70 minutes of music and a DVD of all the songs from the disc being played live in the studio.
The news is perhaps more surprisingly because Metallica haven't been too pro-downloading in the past and they famously sued Napster. Drummer Lars Ulrich explains: "We've always wanted our fans to experience our music online. But up until now, the existing distribution methods have not passed the kind of quality standards our fans have come to expect from us. We want the music that will be accessed on www.metalllicavault.com to be the best of the best available on the Internet."