Nine Inch Nails Attack Record Label

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has slammed his record label for the overpricing of the bands recent album, 'Year Zero,' reports to Gigwise.com.

In a message on Nine Inch Nails' website Reznor criticised his label, UMG, saying that their main motivation was to "screw the consumer."

He said: "As 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. A couple of examples that quickly come to mind."

Reznor used the retail price of his album in Australia as an example of his frustrations: "The Absurd retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia. Shame on you, UMG. Year Zero is selling for $34.99 Australian dollars ($29.10 US). No wonder people steal music. Avril Lavigne's record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US)."

He continued: "By the way, when I asked a label rep about this his response was: 'It's because we know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out - you know, true fans. It's the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy.’ So... I guess as a reward for being a "true fan" you get ripped off."

Renzor also attacked the maxi-single release of his single in Europe saying that it was "Nothing but a consumer rip-off that I've been talked into my whole career."

The Nine Inch Nails founder did add, however, that a full-length remix collection would be available for fans soon.

Comments

[Pumpkins4Life]

and those bastards wonder why there's so much illegal downloading going on. I downloaded the whole album the day before it came out, sure I'll go to one of his concerts and buy and extra t-shirt or something to make up for it, i can't believe they nickel and dime people like that.

[Aidy Damage]

So this is why I had to pay £16 for it? Good on Trent to speak up for the NIN fans of the world!

[~Xerces~]

Treznor is amazing

[efferus]

\m/ respect.

[4evaroxn]

yeah, im with you on that one. i dont buy my music either just because of things like this. concerts sure, shirts sure, but most cds no. sucks that records labels are like that =/

[Define]

Man I got it for 9.99 CDN

I love Future Shop/Best Buy

[jammoe]

HA! I got it for $10 Canadian too. At HMV. I thought it was part of the whole marketing thing, practically giving away the CD. Weird.

[Caustic]

This is what makes Trent awesome. And he's really been standing up for what he believes in as of late. His fellow musicians should follow his example.

[barney18]

If you go to Circuit City the day an album comes out, its usually $9. They always discount it that day and I've been buying from them for years.

[CanCan]

"No wonder people steal music. Avril Lavigne's record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US)."

"It's the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy."

That's horrible!

[mp3stalin]

CanCan wrote:

"No wonder people steal music. Avril Lavigne's record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US)."

"It's the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy."

That's horrible!

yeah i like avril! :'(

[Nerdo-sez-bo]

I'm not paying £16 for an album.

[GiantRaven]

I paid a tenner for it

=D

[JoNnHannah]

Reznor is the man for calling out his label like this.

[bloke]

i dunno, in the uk i could of got it for around a tenner on amazaon, but bought in in hmv for about 14 quid i think, it depends what shop you go to which makes me wonder if its the record label that should be attacked for this...?

[viaquez]

bloke wrote:

i dunno, in the uk i could of got it for around a tenner on amazaon, but bought in in hmv for about 14 quid i think, it depends what shop you go to which makes me wonder if its the record label that should be attacked for this...?

Well the thing is that the record labels sell the CDs to warehouses who, in turn, sell then to CD stores and then to the consumer.

Now, Amazon (and many other online outlets) are basically the Warehouse. So you do get the merchandise slightly cheaper becuase there is one less middle-man.

HOWEVER: Amazon, because they buy and sell in huge bulk amounts, often start things off at a discounted price in order to get a core base of customers. They are, in effect, losing money in order to get customers, so that kater, they can make money.

CD Retail outlets (such as HMV, etc.) basically do the same thing. After a week or 2 they jack up the price so that they can make money.

Example: When I went to buy Frances the Mute when it first came out, it was 9.99...I waited till payday and went to the store to buy it.The guy at the counter said to me "you're lucky you came in now, this is the last day we're selling this at this price" --the next day it was selling for $18.99 (list price from the manufacturer/Warehouse had it at $17.

The store was losing half of their money from the sales to develop a base of customers, who (hopefully) will come back later and buy more of their overpriced stuff.

However, as I said, it's overpriced because of the amount that the Labels charge the warehouses, and in turn, how much the warehouses charge the stores who buy from them.

The record labels ARE to blame for high prices. The CD stores are charging what they have to in order to stay in business, and the online stores are as well, but since they are cutting out the middle man, they don't need to charge quite as much, becuase they are getting the merchandise at a cheaper price.

[better_than_you]

YES!!! hes the man

[chieftanec]

good man

[psychodelia]

Checked

[Comeback Kiddd]

Trent Reznor for president

[UncleCthulhu]

Publicity stunt. The massive advertising campaign they had before the album's launch didn't do much for sales, in fact, they lost a lot of respect for resorting to viral advertising.

If he wasn't in such a popular band he wouldn't complain about the price of the album.

[Black Hole Sun]

UncleCthulhu wrote:

Publicity stunt. The massive advertising campaign they had before the album's launch didn't do much for sales, in fact, they lost a lot of respect for resorting to viral advertising.

If he wasn't in such a popular band he wouldn't complain about the price of the album.

He's complaining about the price of the album, if anything, he's encouraging people not to buy it.

[paterson_mj]

It's a bit weird that the same statement announces that he wants to release yet another one of his remix albums...which AREN'T free. PR hypocrisy.

[RyanEsta]

I got mine for $10 at Target. I live in the US though

[dudebud]

paterson_mj wrote:

It's a bit weird that the same statement announces that he wants to release yet another one of his remix albums...which AREN'T free. PR hypocrisy.

Why would it be free? Do you think Trent Rexnor's material is worth nothing? There is no hypocrisy in charging for an album after bashing the label for OVERCHARGING. He still has to make something afterall. The artist only makes a fraction of the cost of a CD while most of the money goes to repay studio, marketing, and other expenses involved in the process. At the end of the day the artist only walks away with a few pennies from each CD but when you sell millions of copies...you can do that math.

So next time you want to be a dick, find another way.

[halffast]

Pumpkins4Life wrote:

i can't believe they nickel and dime people like that.

It's not really nickel and dimeing; it's five and ten dollaring.

[seifer_alamasy]

I don't really like NIN much, but I respect Trent Reznor. It's about time someone spoke up about these things, illegial downloading has never hurt artists sales. Over pricing hurts artist sales.

[LiquidPark13]

UncleCthulhu wrote:

Publicity stunt. The massive advertising campaign they had before the album's launch didn't do much for sales, in fact, they lost a lot of respect for resorting to viral advertising.

If he wasn't in such a popular band he wouldn't complain about the price of the album.

In fact? I have not heard anyone bashing them for viral marketing. It was pulled off in a clever way in my opinion and I think the majority of people who looked into it would agree.

[dieamberdie]

LiquidPark13 wrote:

UncleCthulhu wrote:

Publicity stunt. The massive advertising campaign they had before the album's launch didn't do much for sales, in fact, they lost a lot of respect for resorting to viral advertising.

If he wasn't in such a popular band he wouldn't complain about the price of the album.


In fact? I have not heard anyone bashing them for viral marketing. It was pulled off in a clever way in my opinion and I think the majority of people who looked into it would agree.

i agree i thought the advertizing was brilliant! i loved it. and reznor s a good man for doing what he did. i wouldn't want to rip off my fans either. burn in hell unclecthulhu.

[guitarkid2113]

Yeah, I'm glad Trent Reznor spoke out against the record labels. All they do are things for their own well being. But anyways, I like the label on the back of his CD thats "From the FBI" or w.e

[guitarkid2113]

Comeback Kiddd wrote:

Trent Reznor for president

Fo' real.

[Useful_Idiot16]

Obviously a publicity stunt.

[ToolRickHead]

Yeah i doubt the representive said that. But it's a good way to warn people.

[Cobalt Blue]

yeah thats bull, some companies really over charge. i'd never pay over $15 before tax unless it was two discs or a DVD/CD hybrid or something like that.

[Dyer's Eve]

Checked.

[DogOfWar]

Yeah, anyone else notice that this conveniently came out the same time his record sales were tanking? Trent has always been pretty lame.

[Gemini]

One of my dreams s to eventually have my own label, all about the artists under it. I'll take what I have to to stay afloat, and make my extra money doing my own thing. If I manage to become the producer I hope to be, then that cuts the cost of one more expensive employee in order to put more into the artists. Respect to Reznor for the statement, though I haven't been attention to his sales or anything, so I don't know if that actually has anything to do with it.

[Fredricktator]

He would have gotten more people to buy it if it was retailing for cheaper (i.e. beat out worse music like avril lacrap). Yesterday i saw it at meijer for 18.99 US dollars. WTF?? every other album at most was like 14.99. The only thing positive is that the record company thinks that his fan base is so strong. He should just open a database to sell his music and screw everyone else in the record company.

[Td_Nights]

Personally,I don't give a damn over what the record companies think of the whole stealing and downloading things that are going on right now.All many of them care about is money,and don't even know shit about music.They just tend to think that bands can't function without a label,which is total bullshit.People need to stop worrying so damn much about money and look at what actually will matter in it all,I mean,it doesn't even matter if NIN lost their label over this,I'm decently sure that there are quite a few other labels willing to sign them just based off of them already having success.I'm not entirely sure,but at this point they might be able to just change labels and not deal with all this shit anyways...

[marcus00]

The reason he's planning on releasing a remix album is because a lot of the remixes appear on cd's/LP's that aren't easily available in the U.S. or outside of Europe.

He's releasing this album for the sole purpose of making the music available without having to pay 'collector' prices for it. Also, if you look hard enough, he's done a lot of stuff without the label's permission just to get a product out.

Look into the Closure DVD's being spread through torrents. Also read up on the fact that a studio quality version of the album was 'leaked' weeks before the release date. He was pretty pissed when the RIAA started coming down on people for sharing the MP3's he intentionally leaked as part of the ARG game.

[scarfacesuit]

i rarely buy CDs. burn from a friend usually, who's burned it from another friend. in the end, it works out well, because a big group of people chip in like a dollar and we just burn the original CD multiple times.
i do own a NIN t-shirt though... haha

[hinin]

The fact is that Reznor's right when he says that downloading is a completely self-inflicted wound for the labels.

But then if he so wished, he could do something about it.

i remember an incident with Alec Empire - an anarchist as far as major labels are concerned - who was then signed to Phonogram, a major. He took some criticism, but then used the advance money to screw the label (who went bust, incidentally) and set up a completely independent label.

He would have lost a shedload of money doing it this way, but then no amount of money buys credibility.

[jahyarain]

only phm DIDN'T have a remix album. geez.

[IrishGuitar77]

Reznor has gotta be one of my heroes coming out and saying things like that about his own label. And i have to throw in here that he's a musical genius... NIN pwnz nubzors lawl lawl oh em gee

[Dead_End]

Mr Reznor is amazing to speak up about this, not many band members would care so this was pretty cool to hear, and indeed, psh, and everyone wants to know why people are using frostwire and limewire and all those other wire whatever the hell they are music downloader things O.o

[clincher09]

UncleCthulhu wrote:

Publicity stunt. The massive advertising campaign they had before the album's launch didn't do much for sales, in fact, they lost a lot of respect for resorting to viral advertising.

If he wasn't in such a popular band he wouldn't complain about the price of the album.

Wrong, it wasn't a "campaign", it was part of the album. And a lot of NIN fans loved it.

Also, what is a maxi-single?

[ad4mZX]

This whole album is to appeal to the 11-14 year old rebellious children. The theme of it along with this and the torrent thing is all planned by the label to attract these consumers. This is because this age group basically listens to anything they are told to, and consider anything that isn't a girl singing pop music to be underground.

I did like the album, but all the marketing is really stupid.

[clincher09]

ad4mZX wrote:

This whole album is to appeal to the 11-14 year old rebellious children. The theme of it along with this and the torrent thing is all planned by the label to attract these consumers. This is because this age group basically listens to anything they are told to, and consider anything that isn't a girl singing pop music to be underground.

I did like the album, but all the marketing is really stupid.

That's so wrong, I don't even know where to begin.

[not_dead_enough]

"The Absurd retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia. Shame on you, UMG. Year Zero is selling for $34.99 Australian dollars ($29.10 US). No wonder people steal music. Avril Lavigne's record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US)."

Ironically I live in Australia and in the store JB HiFi at least Year Zero was charting better than The Best Damn Thing.

[Nebjy]

ad4mZX wrote:

This whole album is to appeal to the 11-14 year old rebellious children. The theme of it along with this and the torrent thing is all planned by the label to attract these consumers. This is because this age group basically listens to anything they are told to, and consider anything that isn't a girl singing pop music to be underground.

I did like the album, but all the marketing is really stupid.

Not really
Soldiers in iraq listen to it...
Its not the rebellious punk shit you hear on the raidio.

And no, I listen to whatever I feel like listening to. Some things are just more obvious than others.

[TMKA]

Also, what is a maxi-single?

its basically a album with 10-12 remixes of one song
its priced like a full album (as far as ive seen) and packaged like a full album
theyre just another way of bleeding hardcore fans dry

[korn_dawg]

i can't believe they nickel and dime people like that.

When the example was $29.10... I hope CDs in your area are more than a few cents cheaper than that.. Everything seems pretty regularly priced around here.. though prices have gone up over the years to about $15-18. I love how Trent speaks his mind though.. well, sometimes.. it's a good thing he attacks the industry though IMO :

[-heartbreaker-]

yeah wtf it was advertised for 9.99 but everywhere had it for 13

good for trent to sell such a great album by a well known band for less!

[getts182]

I'm not really a NIN fan, but that's pretty cool that Reznor would just lay it out right there and expose this whole deal.
If I lived anywhere where I was getting charged $20+ US, I'd be pissed, and I'd probably steal music, too. I have no problem paying for CD's/music, I really don't, but I refuse to buy at Virgin Records in town because they charge so much; instead I'll go to my local FYE where they price things decently, or I'll buy it on iTunes. But for a label rep to actually say that they're ripping off the fan base....wow, that's a brand new low.

[Chewy120]

GiantRaven wrote:

I paid a tenner for it

=D

lol i would too

[ad4mZX]

Nebjy and Clincher, his contract definately has a clause stating that he can't say anything harmful about his label, this absolutely has to be planned.
Also, I know soldiers in Iraq, etc. listen to it, I said I listened to it too. I said that it was good, but at the same time you can't deny the whole marketing scheme of it all.

[Battery Chicken]

Not really a fan of NIN, but kudos to Reznor for having the nuts to blast his own label for being corporate shills.

[Brennos_37]

I paid 20 bucks for the CD. You should see what I paid for The Fragil, 30 BUCKS!!!. That's the common price for a cd in Mexico.

[Nebjy]

getts182 wrote:

I'm not really a NIN fan, but that's pretty cool that Reznor would just lay it out right there and expose this whole deal.
If I lived anywhere where I was getting charged $20+ US, I'd be pissed, and I'd probably steal music, too. I have no problem paying for CD's/music, I really don't, but I refuse to buy at Virgin Records in town because they charge so much; instead I'll go to my local FYE where they price things decently, or I'll buy it on iTunes. But for a label rep to actually say that they're ripping off the fan base....wow, that's a brand new low.

Fye is strange. XD
Their prices can be from 2 dollars a good cd to 30 dollars for my retard o bot cd.

[MindjackPlug]

only paid fifteen bucks for year zero. worth it.

[atkm2891]

**** big the big-ass music corporations like Sony Bmg, and UMG. They are exactly what is destroying music, because they sign all the gay-ass rappers, and hip-hops crap.

[Macabre_Turtle]

jahyarain wrote:

only phm DIDN'T have a remix album. geez.

The Head Like A Hole single is considered by most the remix album

[Macabre_Turtle]

And publicity stunt my ass. The only thing this can do for him is get him kicked off his label. A publicity stunt is something controversial to become better known. Do you really think people are going to start converting there attention over to him due to this quote? go play in traffic.

[not_dead_enough]

And another thing, I think everybody is blowing this way out of proportion. I mean seriously, what's ten bucks these days? Almost nothing. Sure it may be the difference between someone checking out the band for the first time either buying it or downloading it, but (for a band like NiN with a heavy cult following) i'm sure most of you can afford an extra $10 or so each of the whole 5 times in 20 years this band releases a new album.

You all say 'screw major record companies', but remember they serve a very important purpose. If it wasn't for major record labels, most of us would not have heard of NiN to begin with. You don't like how they run? Start your own.

(btw when Trent Reznor was head of Nothing records, their cds weren't exactly 'free' either).

[Thekillerbob]

mp3stalin wrote:

CanCan wrote:

"No wonder people steal music. Avril Lavigne's record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US)."

"It's the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy."

That's horrible!

yeah i like avril! :'(

you are being sarcastic, right?

[BlazeBanderez]

Doesn't Reznor Own 'Nothing' Records?

Why's he recording on a different label?

Seems a bit backwards

[arrayofemotions]

Here in Belgium it was on sale for 20 euro, that's roughly $27.5. I actually bought it in London when i visited; it was only 10 pounds there, which is roughtly 15 euro or 20 dollars. Quite a difference.

But yeah, i agree with Trent. Lot's of CD's are very much overpriced.

[euan_soad]

The thing that annoys me most is old CD's that are overpriced. I saw Iron Maiden's Dance of Death album in Fopp yesterday for £15! It won't have cost that on release. The Number of the Beast originally came out in 1982, remastered 1998. Why the hell is it still priced at £10 or £11? Okay granted I got Audioslave's Out of Exile for £5 the year it came out on sale from Fopp too, but it should stay at that fixed price. As for the labels, they aren't needed for bands publicity. As much as I hate the Arctic Monkeys and Enter Shikari, they gained huge followings just from myspace, which is free of charge for anyone to use! It makes me wonder why people bother buying CD's at all!

[EpiphoneXII]

9.99 in canada the most expensive cd i bought was metallicas S&M 36.88+tax thats why alot of people download

[FrenchyFungus]

Not really a fan, but I respect him no end for that.

[Emenius Sleepus]

I begin to appreciate Trent more and more for his art and integrity. Not the biggest NIN fan overall, but I do enjoy their music, and they have my respect

[Emenius Sleepus]

BlazeBanderez wrote:

Doesn't Reznor Own 'Nothing' Records?

Why's he recording on a different label?

Seems a bit backwards

As far as I know, Nothing Records doesn't exist anymore