Metallica recently celebrated its 30th anniversary as a band, and they have certainly come a long way since the hard-core days of the 80’s.
Today they’re all multi-millionaires, parents, and, gasp!, a year or less away from turning fifty. Clearly their reality is much different from when they were a bunch of angry young men who just wanted to drink heavily, and bash out the heaviest music they could.
Metallica’s also facing a much different financial reality as they prepare to play some shows next year, as well as start writing their next album, and their management team at Q-Prime, Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch, want to make sure they’re prepared in case the euro collapses.
Many will tell you that Burnstein and Mensch are two of the smartest guys in the business, and certainly The Rolling Stones wouldn’t ask for their advice if they were fools. (Cliff and Peter were advisers to the band on one of their mega tours).
As Burnstein recently explained in The Wall Street Journal, he wants Metallica to play countries with stronger currencies, like South America, Southeast Asia, and Australia.
”We’re a U.S. export the same way Coca-Cola is,” Burnstein told writer Neil Shah. “We look for the best markets to go to.”
The article explained that in South America currency is going up, and bands can do very well playing over there. Burnstein also mentioned that for The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, who Q Prime also manage, 75% of their business comes from overseas. Interestingly enough, the Peppers haven’t toured America in four years.
Next summer, Metallica will play Germany, Britain and Austria, and as Burnstein feels, “Over the next few years, the dollar will be stronger and the Euro weaker, and if that’s the case, I want to take advantage of that by playing more of these [European] shows now, because they will be more profitable for us.”
