Metallica to premiere new song?

Metallica could debut the first single from its upcoming album on the soundtrack of a future edition of the Rock Band video game. According to the Rocky Mountain News, MTV senior vice president of home entertainment Paul DeGooyer said that MTV and Rock Band manufacturer Harmonix plan to premiere new music on forthcoming versions of the game, explaining, "There are a couple of things we've committed to, one of them with Metallica for example. They've reserved the right to give us their first single from their new album for the game."

Metallica is still at work on its ninth studio album and no details have been announced yet regarding a single, release date or even title.

With more and more musical acts promoting their music directly online or through outlets such as video games, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich told us that record labels could continue to become less important: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "The great thing about being in a band like us is that we're in a position to bypass the record company. What's the basic record company function? Basically record companies act like banks. And when you don't need the bank element of a record company, you can kind of do it yourself."

The highly anticipated Rock Band came out earlier this month. The 58-song soundtrack includes dozens of original master recordings by artists such as Metallica, Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Black Sabbath, Radiohead, the Smashing Pumpkins, Fall Out Boy, the Killers, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, the Clash and many more.

A planned Rock Band television series is reportedly just a rumor, although DeGooyer said the idea had been considered.