NINE INCH NAILS Frontman Says His Record Company Is Run By ‘Thieves’

Posted by TyCohen

As far as the both the music industry and the economy goes, for incredible numbers of individuals (maybe even you), this is the year of lost faith, hope and self confidence.


As with most things, in order to have a true sense of ownership and/or to create *Real* wealth, you have to own what it is that you make a living from. These are just two of the reasons why for the last 10 years I have continuously stressed the importance of owning your own label, taking the DIYS route and avoiding signing to a major label.


So with that said, it did not shock me much to hear the leader of one of the music industry’s most well known groups, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails say that his record company, Universal Records is “Run By Thieves”, lets take a look at that interview and then at the very end, I want YOUR comments. (we need to get at least 20 great comments to keep this type of information coming at you… Thanks!)


Oh and by the way if you are not familiar with who Trent Reznor and/or NINE INCH NAILS, the band has been around since ‘88, have recordings that have been nominated for 12 Grammys, they won two of those Grammy Awards and they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, with 10.5 million sales certified in the US alone.

NINE INCH NAILS is primarily an industrial rock group, but this story will benifit everyone who reads it, even YOU because it shows you the direction that the industry is headed in and how you can reap huge benefits by just doing things right and as I tell you.


Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails lets it rip at ignorant record companies to NEALA JOHNSON


ON stage at the Metro on Monday night, it seemed you’re enjoying being a rock star again. True?


It’s funny you’d say that ‘cos that was not one of my favorite shows.


It went downhill at one point.


Yeah. I enjoy playing these days. I try to make the most of it and sometimes it’s great fun and sometimes, like Monday night when it was crippled with technical problems, it made it not fun. I couldn’t hear what was going on, s— was breaking . . .


Fools in the crowd were yelling . . .


Yeah, mixed feelings about that.


I mean, if you want me to go off on a tangent . . . I’m kind of in a weird space right now. I’m not real centered. We’ve been touring for a long time. I went from the record right into the tour, nine weeks in Europe in winter, which I don’t recommend in any circumstance for anybody. I’m moving. There’s some stuff in my personal life that’s up.


It must be an odd time then to have a new album, Year Zero, out?


It’s a very odd time to be a musician on a major label, because there’s so much resentment towards the record industry that it’s hard to position yourself in a place with the fans where you don’t look like a greedy asshole. But at the same time, when our record came out I was disappointed at the number of people that actually bought it. If this had been 10 years ago


I would think “Well, not that many people are into it. OK, that kinda sucks. Yeah I could point fingers but the blame would be with me, maybe I’m not relevant”. But on this record, I know people have it and I know it’s on everybody’s iPods, but the climate is such that people don’t buy it because it’s easier to steal it.


You’re a bit of a computer geek. You must have been there, too?


Oh, I understand that — I steal music too, I’m not gonna say I don’t. But it’s tough not to resent people for doing it when you’re the guy making the music, that would like to reap a benefit from that. On the other hand, you got record labels that are doing everything they can to piss people off and rip them off. I created a little issue down here because the first thing I did when I got to Sydney is I walk into HMV, the week the record’s out, and I see it on the rack with a bunch of other releases. And every release I see: $21.99, $22.99, $24.99. And ours doesn’t have a sticker on it. I look close and ‘Oh, it’s $34.99′. So I walk over to see our live DVD, “Beside You in Time”, and I see that it’s also priced six, seven, eight dollars more than every other disc on there. And I can’t figure out why that would be.


Did you have a word to anyone?


Well, in Brisbane I end up meeting and greeting some record label people, who are pleasant enough, and one of them is a sales guy, so I say “Why is this the case?” He goes “Because your packaging is a lot more expensive”. I know how much the packaging costs — it costs me, not them, it costs me 83 cents more to have a CD with the colour-changing ink on it. I’m taking the hit on that, not them. So I said “Well, it doesn’t cost $10 more”. “Ah, well, you’re right, it doesn’t. Basically it’s because we know you’ve got a core audience that’s gonna buy whatever we put out, so we can charge more for that. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy it. True fans will pay whatever“. And I just said “That’s the most insulting thing I’ve heard. I’ve garnered a core audience that you feel it’s OK to rip off? F— you’. That’s also why you don’t see any label people here, ‘cos I said ‘F— you people. Stay out of my f—ing show. If you wanna come, pay the ticket like anyone else. F— you guys”. They’re thieves. I don’t blame people for stealing music if this is the kind of s— that they pull off.


Where does that extra $10 on your album go?


That money’s not going into my pocket, I can promise you that. It’s just these guys who have f—ed themselves out of a job essentially, that now take it out on ripping off the public. I’ve got a battle where I’m trying to put out quality material that matters and I’ve got fans that feel it’s their right to steal it and I’ve got a company that’s so bureaucratic and clumsy and ignorant and behind the times they don’t know what to do, so they rip the people off.


Given all that, do you have any idea how to approach the release of your next album?


I’ve have one record left that I owe a major label, then I will never be seen in a situation like this again. If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, pay $4 through PayPal. Come see the show and buy a T-shirt if you like it. I would put out a nicely packaged merchandise piece, if you want to own a physical thing. And it would come out the day that it’s done in the studio, not this “Let’s wait three months” bulls—.



When your US label, Interscope, discovered the web-based alternate reality game (ARG) you’d built around Year Zero, were they happy for the free marketing or angry you hadn’t let them in on it?


I chose to do this on my own, at great financial expense to myself, because I knew they wouldn’t understand what it is, for one. And secondly, I didn’t want it coming from a place of marketing, I wanted it coming from a place that was pure to the project. It’s a way to present the story and the backdrop, something I would be excited to find as a fan. I knew the minute I talked to someone at the record label about it, they would be looking at it in terms of “How can we tie this in with a mobile provider?” That’s what they do. If something lent itself to that, OK, I’m not opposed to the idea of not losing a lot of money (laughs). But it would only be if it made sense. I’ve had to position myself as the irrational, stubborn, crazy artist. At the end of the day, I’m not out to sabotage my career, but quality matters, and integrity matters. Jumping through any hoop or taking advantage of any desperate situation that comes up just to sell a product is harmful. It is.


Is the Year Zero ARG something labels will copy now?


Well, their response, when they saw that it did catch on like wildfire, was “Look how smart we are the way we marketed this record”. That’s the feedback I’ve gotten — other artists who’ve met with that label ask ‘em about it: “Yeah, you like what we did for Trent? Look what we did for Trent”. They’ve then gone on to try to buy the company that did it to apply it to all their other acts. So, glad I could help them out. I’m sure they still don’t understand what it is that we did or why it worked. But I will look forward to the Black Eyed Peas ARG, that should be amazing.


Be sure to pick up the Nine Inch Nails Album, “Year Zero” (on Universal ;). It is out now and it is an AMAZING CD.


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Now what you just read here applies to ALL genres of music, I have to say that because I can already see you trying to find a way out of taking your career into your own hands and being fully responsible for it.


Much Success!

P.S. If you make it a HABIT to do something towards bringing you closer to your goal, Every Day.. You’ll be light years ahead of 99.9% of everyone else, because very few others have the discipline and self motivation to do this…. Other then those people who are ALREADY where you want to BE.. And the way they got there is by being Focused! Start now by leaving a comment, as well as your name and website info for the world to see and read…

Stay Focused, Stay True to Your Dreams and You’ll Make It!