Trent Reznor, better known as the founder and primary creative force behind the band Nine Inch Nails, has produced a solo album by Saul Williams and mixed by Alan Moulder. The album is called The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust and is available as a free download.
Of course, you might be thinking that this sounds like a familiar business plan, hot on the heels of Radiohead’s “name your own price” scheme. Radiohead may have started a trend that many other big name artists are starting to follow, but rather than the quiet, mysterious, experimental approach that Radiohead took to their release, Trent Reznor is full on and explicitly (albeit slightly metaphorically) explaining the motivations behind his cut ties with the big record labels:
“…Most people aren't aware of the world of art and commerce where exploitation strips each artist down to ni**er. Each label, like apartheid, multiplies us by our divide and whips us 'til we conform to lesser figures. What falls between the cracks is a pile of records stacked to the heights of talents hidden from the sun…And the only way to choose is to jump ship from old truths and trust dolphins as we swim through changing ways.”
I’m a little rusty on my Reznorese, but I’m pretty sure what he’s trying to say is “I’m mad as heck [that when I’m an artist and go quadrouple-super-platinum I only get like $20 after studio fees], and I’m not going to take it anymore. And dolphins are cool.”
I’m guessing on the dolphin part, but the rest is fairly clear. The big labels have been riding on the coattails of talented artists for some time now, and the artists discovering that people out there bought their albums to listen to the artists, not to line the pockets of an Interscope executive.
I’ve read through the full blog post a couple times, and even using my English-to-Reznor dictionary, a business plan behind giving music away is hard to find. My suspicion is, however, that he’s betting that giving music away as MP3, and selling a few CDs where he gets nearly 100% of the revenue will beat out selling it all on CD and getting 1% of the net revenue. Without help from Comscore assisted number crunching, I’d imagine it’s a fairly safe bet.
User comment: By: Mark "Rizzn" HopkinsYou're right Matthew. Thanks for the tip. Corrected.
User comment: By: Matthew ReinboldI could be wrong, but I think the opening paragraph is incorrect. It's a Saul Williams album produced by Trent Reznor, not the other way around. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inevitable_Rise_and_Liberation_of_NiggyTardust%21
User comment: By: keithparenttrent's been fighting this fight for a long time. Wikipedia says: Corporate entanglements Trent Reznor is an outspoken critic of the music industry, particularly corporate influence on his artistic freedom. As a result, Nine Inch Nails has clashed with several corporations, culminating in a decision to proceed as a free agent without any recording label contracts. In the early 1990s, Nine Inch Nails was involved in a much-publicized feud with TVT Records, the first record label to sign the band. Reznor objected to the label's attempted interference with his intellectual property.[14] Ultimately, they entered into a joint venture with Interscope Records in which Reznor forfeited a portion of his publishing rights to TVT Music in exchange for the freedom of having his own Nothing Records imprint.[23] In 2005, Reznor sued his former friend and manager John Malm, Jr., co-founder of Nothing, for breach of contract and fiduciary duty.[86] Their relationship was formally severed in a New York courtroom, with damages awarded to Reznor in excess of three million US dollars.[87] At the behest of Prudential Securities bankruptcy proceedings, TVT put the rights to Reznor's recordings for the label on auction in 2005. This offer included the whole TVT catalog, including Pretty Hate Machine and a percentage of royalties from Reznor's song publishing company, Leaving Hope Music/TVT Music. Rykodisc, who did not win the auction but were able to license the rights from Prudential, re-issued the out-of-print Pretty Hate Machine CD on November 22, 2005.[88] Ryko also reissued the "Head Like a Hole" CD and a vinyl edition of Pretty Hate Machine on January 31, 2006. They considered releasing a deluxe edition, just as Interscope had done for The Downward Spiral; however, Reznor declined to produce it for them without payment.[89] Nine Inch Nails was scheduled to perform at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, but dropped themselves from the show due to a disagreement with the network over the use of an unaltered image of George W. Bush as a backdrop to the band's performance of "The Hand that Feeds". Soon afterwards, Reznor wrote on the official NIN website: "apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me".[87] MTV replied that they respected Reznor's point of view, but were "uncomfortable" with the performance being "built around partisan political statements". A performance by the Foo Fighters replaced NIN's time slot on the show.[90] In 2006, after being alerted by a fan website, Reznor issued a cease and desist to Fox News for using three songs from The Fragile on air without permission. The songs "La Mer", "The Great Below", and "The Mark Has Been Made" appeared in an episode of War Stories with Oliver North detailing the battle of Iwo Jima.[91] A post appeared on Reznor's blog, which read: "Thanks for the Fox News heads-up. A cease and desist has been issued. FUCK Fox Fucking News."[92][93] As part of the alternate reality game which accompanied the release of Year Zero, three tracks from the album were intentionally "leaked" prior to their official release at a number of NIN concerts on USB flash drives.[67] The high-quality audio files quickly circulated the internet, and owners of websites hosting the files soon received cease and desist orders from the Recording Industry Association of America, despite the fact that the viral campaign, and the use of USB drives, was sanctioned by Nine Inch Nails' record label.[94] The source that broke the story was quoted as saying "These fucking idiots are going after a campaign that the label signed off on."[94] On May 13, 2007 Reznor made a post on his blog on the official Nine Inch Nails website condemning Universal Music Group for their pricing and distribution plans for Year Zero.[95] He criticized the company's retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia as "ABSURD"[sic], concluding that "as a reward for being a 'true fan' you get ripped off". Reznor went on to say that when "the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more."[96] Reznor's post, specifically his criticism of the recording industry at large, elicited considerable media attention.[97] On September 16, 2007, Trent Reznor continued his attack on what he perceived as unfairly high CD prices at a concert in Australia, urging fans there to "steal" his music online instead of purchasing it legally.[98] The text of Reznor's speech was widely reported on Digg:[99]"Last time I was here, I was doing a lot of complaining about the ridiculous prices of CDs down here. And that story got picked up and got carried all around the world and now my record label all around the world hates me, because I yelled at them, I called them out for being greedy fucking assholes. I didn't get a chance to check, has the price come down at all? I see a no, a no, a no... Has anyone seen the price come down? Okay, well, you know what that means - STEAL IT. Steal away. Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin'. Because one way or another these motherfuckers will get it through their head that they're ripping people off and that's not right."[100]On October 8, 2007, Trent Reznor announced with "great pleasure" that Nine Inch Nails had fulfilled its contractual commitments to the recording industry and was now free to proceed as a "totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label".[9] Reznor also speculated that he would release the next NIN album online in a similar fashion to The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, which he produced.[101]
User comment: By: CountRobIt is probably not so much a matter of money to him, as it is freedom. Record Labels don't just financially rape artist's profits from album sales, they try to control their creativity. They are constantly pressuring bands to change their music to fit mainstream trends. With this method of distribution, he keeps all the revenue and has absolute control over his music.
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