This is a fantastic opportunity for him to make money, in my opinion.
Come to think of it, why has someone else from Silicon Valley not done this ?
Why has Steve Jobs not bought a major record label ? I think the music business needs a good old fashioned changing of the guard and some techifying.
If Bill G. or Jobs or Zuck or anyone that has a ton of money bought one (or some) of those large labels, that could be pretty momentous.
Didn't that whole Apple Computer vs Apple Corps (Records) debate make it impossible for Apple to sell music? They skirted by for a while after iTunes because they technically weren't selling their own music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer
And it looks like they have brought it up a few times in the past few years.
I agree with the "changing of the guard" sentiment, but I think it better to disrupt from the outside, rather than prop up the old guard for a while longer. There's on old saying "once a pickle, never a cucumber". I just don't believe the industry can be un-pickled.
Very very very very big difference, in that they don't own Metallica's music. Metallica music has been owned by their own 'label'/corp since the first album (which is why they went to court, directly).
Though the association they have creates a nice narrative for the story, so I can see why this writer jumped on it.
Technically, if Sean and co. was to successfully purchase Warner Music Group, they would be in control of the company that has negotiated rights to Metallica's records, at least for the time being. So it is actually kind of a (potentially) juicy story.
