This is priceless. Remember the thing a couple of weeks ago about Metallica suing a band for the use of the E and F chords? It was an extremely well put-together hoax, grafted onto the MTV website by hackers working for the band. They generated unheard-of publicity and made Metallica look like arses (which they are, of course, so bonus points there).

From the Guardian's story:
Announcing the band's decision to sue the obscure Canadian outfit Unfaith, the drummer Lars Ulrich said: "We're not saying we own those two chords, individually - that would be ridiculous. We're just saying that in that specific order, people have grown to associate E, F with our music."

It was a classic David and Goliath story - obscure, unsigned band picked on by rich rockers - and it was widely reported. As Unfaith singer/songwriter Erik Ashley explains: "Within minutes, literally hundreds of message boards lit up, including those of legitimate music news sources."

It turned up on Ananova and on DotMusic, on MSNBC, MacDailyNews and on weblogs. Industry insiders expressed their outrage in mailing lists, and music fans filled internet message boards with anti-Metallica diatribes. Radio stations played Unfaith's music in anti-Metallica protests, Rolling Stone magazine got in touch, and The Onion sent a message of support.

But they missed one key detail: the story was a hoax. What looked like a bizarre action by out-of-touch rockers was in fact a spoof that within a few hours it had taken on a life of its own.

Like any successful scam, the hoax worked for two reasons: it seemed believable, and it was beautifully executed. Metallica are well known (and frequently vilified) on the net for their legal tactics, and the story was posted on a perfect copy of MTV's news page. Because it looked like a genuine story and was written in the same style as MTV's other news stories, many net users didn't notice that the page was not on MTV's site; it even linked to an official statement on the Metallica website - again, a clever fake.

In addition to making Metallica look stupid, Ashley's prank was an effective piece of viral marketing - something that raised awareness, not through advertising, but through "word of mouse" For now, Ashley's band is the most talked-about on the web

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