Trent Reznor Does Not Want You To Pay A Lot For This CD

noah | May 14, 2007 1:51 am
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We’re pretty sure that Trent Reznor will be parting ways with the entire major-label structure the millisecond his contract says he can. The latest piece of evidence pointing to this theory comes from his blog:

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:

* 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). 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.

* The dreaded EURO Maxi-single. Nothing but a consumer rip-off that I’ve been talked into my whole career. No more. The point is, I am trying my best to make sure the music and items NIN puts in the marketplace have value, substance and are worth you considering purchasing. I am not allowing Capital G to be repackaged into several configurations that result in you getting ripped off.

We’re guessing that Trent’s run-ins with his label have resulted in this “consumer advocate” side of him coming out even more fiercely. Perhaps once he breaks free from Interscope, he can turn into the David Horowitz of the music world, taking an army of crusaders to the racks in order to fight the music industry’s worst tendencies.

Updates From Trent [nin.com]