Napster and Metallica have finally buried the hatchet.
The file-sharing service yesterday announced it has settled its copyright suit with the rights-conscious rockers as well as with hip hop star Dr. Dre, for an undisclosed sum.
“We weren’t doing this for the money,” said the artists’ attorney, Howard King. “It was more that we wanted a public apology from Napster.”
The company also filed an appeal against U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel’s order that Napster remain offline until it can show it is able to effectively block access to all copyrighted works on its network. Napster has been offline for 10 days while it works on the database of “noticed” songs that it will not allow fans to trade.
Napster said it can screen out 99.4 percent of copyrighted files, but Judge Patel told them to keep working on it.
As part of the settlement, Napster will make sure any songs that Dre and Metallica want blocked will be.
Changing his tune from last year, Napster’s interim CEO Hank Barry said in a statement: “Metallica has taken a courageous stand and a tough and principled approach to the protection of its name and creative output, and that of other artists.”
Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but King said they were enough to pay his fees.
“We respect what they’ve done and regret any harm which this dispute may have caused them,” said Barry.
Napster founder Shawn Fanning also ate crow, expressing his wishes to work with Metallica in the future when the company launches its paid, legal service.
King said he would be celebrating with a lobster dinner, while Dr Dre and Metallica would be in the studio finishing off their albums.