Trent Reznor: Take my music, please
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails
(Credit: Rob Sheridan)Correction: Saul Williams' album debuts Thursday and is available for free or a $5 donation.
Rocker Trent Reznor doesn't pretend to know the answers to what ails the music industry.
But that hasn't stopped the iconoclastic front man for the band Nine Inch Nails from marching to the front lines--in lock step with British band Radiohead--in an assault on the traditional music business.
Reznor, who made news earlier this month when he left his record label, spoke Tuesday with CNET News.com about the decision. He also bashed the music industry, detailed how he persuaded performer Saul Williams to give away his latest album for free, praised Radiohead for distributing music directly to fans via the Web, and indicated that instead of fighting the so-called free culture--people who share music online--he plans to embrace it.
"Personally, I would like people to support artists," Reznor said. "After all, we as artists dedicate our lives to producing the best music we can. It's been a painful process for me personally (to see the changes in the music industry). But should I be angry at the audience that wants to hear music so much, an audience that is so passionate about hearing it they go online to get it two weeks before the music debuts? No, I want them to be that way."
Reznor has become a revolutionary figure to the file-sharing community. A video appeared recently at YouTube that showed him during a concert performance lamenting the high prices of CDs. Fans whooped it up when Reznor told them to go ahead and steal his music.
Since then, Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead have become symbols of a growing movement among performers who are trying to use the Web to cut out the traditional middlemen of distribution: record labels.
Musicians Saul Williams and Trent Reznor
(Credit: Atticus Ross)Radiohead shook the industry earlier this month by releasing a digital version of their latest album and asking fans pay whatever price they believed the album was worth. It was unprecedented move largely because it appeared to address an issue that music industry has largely tried to ignore. Music fans, many of whom obtain songs for free through illegal file sharing, perceive the dollar value of songs as almost nothing. Unless something dramatic occurs, many believe there is a chance a large number of fans will never again be swayed to plunk down money for music.
Reznor, 42, said that the music industry is spinning its wheels trying to fight that perception. He said that in the future songs can be a way to entice fans to buy concert tickets and merchandise and he recognized that this may be how musicians make their living. He has recently produced an album for Williams, a rapper/filmmaker/spoken-word artist, called The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust, which goes on sale Thursday on Williams' site.
Not coincidentally, the digital version of the album, which is free of copy-protection software, is priced for free or fans can make a $5 donation. It was Reznor's idea to give away Williams' music in a similar way as Radiohead.
"Radiohead is one of my favorite bands," Reznor said. "When they announced they were releasing that album for free, I got dozens of text messages. It gave me goose bumps. It's such an exciting way to sell a record."
Now, here's the rub. Reznor isn't the naïve artist who doesn't understand dollars and cents. He said that he knows giving away music may not make business sense. In addition, such a model could work for marquee bands like Radiohead but not for up-and-coming acts.
"Radiohead has a built-in audience and they have the luxury of being able to experiment with a new distribution model," Reznor said. "I think there were some serious flaws with how they executed but it was a good idea."
Reznor addressed some of the questions about whether artists are prepared to become merchants. Who is going to oversee sales, promotion, marketing, site supervision, and the countless other chores that record labels historically handled?
But Reznor isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. He said that he was part of the negotiations with Musicane,the company handling the online distribution of Williams' upcoming album. Musicane is overseeing fulfillment, payment processing, and customer service.
The beauty of Musicane, according to Reznor, is that it provides the backbone for distribution without requiring musicians to invest "hundreds of thousands of dollars."
"Look, we're looking for what works and this seemed like it made sense," Reznor said. "Ask me in a week about how it went and hopefully I'll be saying the same thing."
It's doubtful that even if problems crop up Reznor can be dissuaded from his belief that the Internet is good for artists. He thinks that the Web creates direct links between musicians and their fans. This is beneficial even if sometimes it's hard for performers to stand out among the countless acts trying to promote themselves online.
"The greatest thing about the Internet is that everybody is their own distributor," Reznor said. "Being your own distributor is power and the thing that labels once held over artists. The power of getting your message out to an audience is very empowering as an artist. These are exciting times and things are happening that I couldn't imagine just a few years ago."
As for the future, well, Reznor fully acknowledges that he--like everybody else in music--is unsure of how things will turn out. But he says he's sure of one thing: the old way of doing business is dead.
"I don't know what the future holds," he said. "I don't know what model is going to work. I do know relationships between music labels and artist like myself aren't going well. These days when digital elements come into play labels have dealt with them generally poorly. It has gotten to a place where it couldn't be worse. Their treatment of artists has less sympathy and it's more like 'What can we get out of you?' My only concern has always been that my audience is treated fairly."
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg.
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The phony musician.
/Mouse
to your kind generosity or your slimy crookedness. I enjoy
shopping there. Pass the word. Maybe it IS the beginning of the
end of music labels, but it is up to us. The Public- the fans.
Right now it is less advantages for musicians to sell through Yahoo and Rhapsody music because Record labels aren't totally embracing digital music and musicians get less money. Plus musicians wont sell their rights over to companies as nobody should. That was the first and last mistake.
People are generally good, and I think that when we're not forced to do something it's easier and we'd be more willing to do it. I'm certain that artist would be more successful distributing their music at a recommended price, than pursuing the "or else" tactic of the record labels.
wonderful thing. I'm not a Radiohead fan myself, but the follow-
up was that the "free" version available for download was of very
poor quality. Whereas I think Trent Reznor is trying to actually
get the music out there in a usable format. I'm not a huge Trent
or NIN fan either, but I do respect the guy a lot more because he
has always tended to do his own thing his own way. I think that
Radiohead has pretty much turned out to be the pretentious d-
bags I always kind thought they were.
Now that function would be handled by iTunes, Amazon, in a true environment of competition where costs could be driven down.
There is no need for record companies...this article reads like propoganda for record companies overstating by far what they do for the traditional artist. What they do is almost nothing...they don't promote and unknown, they basically sign up someone who is already an obvious hit.
Don't be fooled...an up and coming artist has it hard, and the record companies absolutely did not make it easy for anyone, nor did they promote 99% of those acts...they mostly latch on at the last second, when the success is already starting to appear.
The issue of getting famous, remains, as it always has and always will, somewhat elusive.
there, it's literally the whole source code of the songs in formats
such as for GarageBand and Logic..!! You see every instrument and
vocal track separately laid down in the song which means a person
could easily alter the original to create a one-off home made re-
mix of their very own.
This new method has found an efficiency, fewer degrees of separation from the source artist to the end customer, which the record companies will have to shape up, to compete with.
You can distribute electronically for less cost than in retail, end of story. If the RIAA can't get their heads out of the sand, and embrace low cost electronic distribution that is relatively free to the end user, they might find themselves obsolete.
Big Name artists today might become the labels and promoters of tomorrow, which is really a great idea. Who better to promote and record new artists than the artists that have already been there, and know what works and what doesn't for them?
Electronic distribution could be made easy and free to the end user with a very simple licensing model. Pay to distribute, not to receive. A low monthly flat fee for an authorized site to distribute unlimited copies of a particular song for free to end users. As downloads increase or decrease, perhaps the fee scale could change but still remain small. The distribution sites, can then sell ad space, being able to provide substantial data about their active unique visitor counts, by downloads.
If these sites are run by artists themselves, even better.
I love live music and have found that NIN's concert performances are great experiences that allow the fan to be involved in the music. When you see a band with such stage presence and talent as NIN perform it really translates the music into a more meaningful experience. When I think of NIN, my memories include getting a key from the keyboard during NIN's New Orleans' Fragile show, having tears in my eyes as Trent sang "Hurt" at the New Orleans Voodoo Music Festival 2 months after Katrina, and the more usual stress relieving audience involved multi-senses concert experience. I've had the opportunity to see NIN Live 8 times (sometimes 2 days in a row) and each of the shows is different and a truly memorable experience. In addition to NIN, I go to many other concerts and music festivals seeing a variety of music. And yes, I have seen some bands that have shows that are just boring reproductions of their studio recordings - and those are the bands that I choose to only see once live whereas for other bands, I am willing to plan family vacations around their concert schedule.
And when given a choice of getting Saul Williams' new music for free or donating $5 to the artist - I was very willing to purchase the music because I really enjoyed Saul's live performances.
SO this guy offer FREE or $5 donation. He will find out that most of his so called fans love him so much they'll take the music for free. That's sad that so called fans can't even come up with $5. I mean you can go work at Burger King for an hour and make $5.
Everyone wants everything for free. Sorry nothing is free. The sooner you learn that the better. Unfortunately most will have to learn the hard way and we all suffer.
So instead of putting on spurs, he's looking for alternate vehicles to keep his music moving.
Well done Trent, I wish you the best of success, and I look forward as a consumer to seeing where this all ends up as well. For now I buy CD's, I just haven't been that impressed with the sound quality of mp3 generally speaking.
I do use the mp3 format, but I load my own mp3's from my CD's, but those are always excellent because I get to choose the bitrate that I rip at, where as Amazon or other mp3 sites offer the mp3's in bit-rates I'm not willing to pay for.
I listened to the FLAC version of ?Niggy Tardust?, I?m not really into hip-hop, but Saul Williams has a unique sound; it?s really good and certainly worth the donation. Independent distribution is a brilliant marketing approach on the part of Reznor. He?s supported and produced records for other artists in the past and they were very successful; I have no doubt he?ll do the same for Williams.
In support of Trent and his vision I am offering to donate $250.00 for one song, NIN or Saul Williams. Where do I send the cash, donations on Reznor?s web site is limited to $5.00!!
Best of Luck and Thanks
- Trent did you think about this?
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by Xtoo
January 10, 2008 8:48 AM PST
- How about all the people (probably the majority NIN fans) that
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See all 39 Comments >>got to Niggy's website, downloaded the music to check it out
and didn't like it. Remember than Niggy's downloads, even the
free ones, are because of you. And your fans have nothing to do
with Niggy's music.
Why be disappointed? Niggy is after your shadow.
How many people did not like Niggy's music even for free?
I bet a LOT.
Now if you were to do the same strategy with NIN, I would pay
and I bet 100's of 1,000's would.