News > Nine Inch Nails
15 Years Ago Trent Reznor Would’ve Been Laughed Out Of Town For This
By Johnny Firecloud
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Trent Reznor’s urging all musicians to follow in his lead and ditch their record labels. After Nine Inch Nails ended their bumpy ride with Universal in 2007, Reznor’s been on a pioneering hell-run, setting new standards in an industry long overdue for a full digital overhaul and embracing new technologies in a way no other big-name artist ever has. And the best part? He’s being completely transparent about it, in the hopes that other will follow his lead.
He insists that there’s more than one way to skin a cat get your music heard than by dealing with an industry that financially traps musicians and is completely out of touch with modern trends.
Reznor says, “Anyone who’s an executive at a record label does not understand what the internet is, how it works, how people use it, how fans and consumers interact- no idea. I’m surprised they know how to use email. They have built a business around selling plastic discs, and nobody wants plastic discs any more. They’re in such a state of denial it’s impossible for them to understand what’s happening.
“One of the biggest wake-up calls of my career was when I saw a record contract. I said, ‘Wait- you sell it for $18.98 and I make 80 cents? And I have to pay you back the money you lent me to make it and then you own it? Who the fuck made that rule? Oh! The record labels made it because artists are dumb and they’ll sign anything-’ like I did. When we found out we’d been released (from their recording contract) it was like, ‘Thank God!’ But 20 minutes later it was, ‘Uh-oh, now what are we going to do?’ It was incredibly liberating, and it was terrifying.”
It really is a no-brainer. Any established recording act should be doing things on their own these days. Maybe even non-established acts as well. The artists have been getting screwed since the beginning. I applaud Reznor.
Well, not everyone is Trent Reznor, not every artist can be a businessman, someone has to do “the magic” for them. Anyway we need to fucking erase the whole “middle-men” thing. They do the same with books, that’s why they’re so epxensive. Good thing that it’s starting to change, and I wish that my children won’t have to steal to be mentally satisfied.
How come there are no unsigned bands filling up the magazines, video channels, radio stations, etc?
The problem runs much deeper than just the labels. Bands need things. There is no way NIN could have ever pulled off something like the Lights In The Sky Tour without the huge history and fan base that was provided by years on a major label.
That’s just super, but NiN still sucks and Trent is still a poser. 30 years from now no-one is going to be sitting around going “damn, what a fucking genius this guy was”. The distance between Trent Reznor and, say Fallout Boy is just not that far, despite what some LA music industry sluts on a website spew. People have been making music, distributing music, and touring with no label support for decades. People were saying (and doing) similar things in the 1970’s. Guess what. They’re all poor or dead and nearly forgotten now. You’ll never hear some of the best music ever made.
– “When we found out we’d been released (from their recording contract) it was like, ‘Thank God!’ But 20 minutes later it was, ‘Uh-oh, now what are we going to do?’ It was incredibly liberating, and it was terrifying.”
It was more like, “oh my god, how am I going to con witless fools with no musical taste into buying my lifeless noise without the help of a bunch of professional con artists, thugs, and bribes? Oh wait, I know, I’ll re-cast myself as an industrial revolutionary!”
– “They have built a business around selling plastic discs, and nobody wants plastic discs any more.”
Well, that’s worthless and facile in a nutshell for you. He’s confusing the delivery mechanism with the business of monopolizing the price of an artist’s output. It would have been more interesting if you stopped him and asked, “but do you really have any idea what the fuck you’re talking about, and if so, how would you change it?”
You know, apart from just inflating his own ego and slapping MP3’s up on a website for $.99… because it appears the “clueless” music industry is already there.
Seriously. Trent fucking Reznor is your poster boy for modernizing the music industry, Johnny? Get your vision checked, this clod’s vision is a mile wide and an inch deep.
Guess we’ll see what the history books say.
Hey G- What label do you work for? Sounds like you’re a bit perturbed with the implosion of the industry.
And just because you have a bone to pick with Reznor…give the guy his due, would you?
I’m not even a huge fan of NIN but I can tell you the gap between Reznor and Fallout Boy is fucking enormous.
@spinett & joe- we hung out with tech n9ne the other night. dude’s sold over a million units. completely independently. so to say there’s “no way” is naïve. and probably holding you back.
He’s an idiot. MP3-files are boring. The record companies are made out of people. they do their jobs, and get paid for it. He should be grateful they made him famous even though he’s a douche. Kanye West nr.2