This tactic may seem to rely on a great deal of good faith, but remember that these users are fans of your act-- or at least like your music enough to keep your MP3s on their computers. In other words, they care about you or like you to some degree, however small that may be. You would be surprised what a fan or marginal admirer will be willing to do, especially if you've taken the time to contact them personally and have tried to build loyalty and a sense of community among your fans throughout your career.

Metallica has been very outspoken against file-sharing and the use of Napster, but instead of mobilizing their fanbase, they had all Napster users who had Metallica songs in their shared folders blocked from the Napster system. The result was an alienation of many fans, and no small amount of backlash toward Metallica for what seemed like an anti-fan action. What the band should have done was taken an afternoon off and had each member get onto the Napster system, search for Metallica songs, and Instant Message all those users who were sharing Metallica MP3s, requesting them to stop file-sharing those tracks. How cool would it have been for Metallica fans to get messages directly from one of the band members? It's not hard to imagine these now-excited fans voluntarily complying with the band's wishes. With four band members and a few hours, Metallica could have used the Napster system to reach hundreds of their fans directly, and the news that the band was instant messaging special requests to their fanbase would have spread like wildfire among their massive fan community. Metallica has a loyal fanbase. They should have mobilized that fanbase into action. Fans respect the wishes of artists who take care of them and pay them special attention.