Digg founder Kevin Rose sat down, in front of a wall of modular synthesizers, with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (NIN) and poses the most popular questions as submitted and voted upon by users of the popular social bookmarking site.
It’s a great interview, with lots of discussion around Nine Inch Nails’ approach to making money in a world of new media.
Do you think Nine Inch Nails’ approach can apply to musicians that aren’t established?
The top questions from the Digg community:
- Your business model still primarily involves selling music either digitally or physically. Why haven’t you embraced advertising as a business model?
- What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod?
- What advice do you have for up and coming bands who chose the internet for distribution over traditional channels?
- What tech gadgets, hardware, software, can you not live without?
- Have the plans to release a Year Zero mini-series on HBO fallen through? Or can we still look forward to a video representation of the album?
- What is your favorite thing you have seen done with your music by a fan of NIN?
- What are some of your favorite video games?
- Will any of the records of your side project Tapeworm, with TOOL frontman Maynard James Keenan, ever be released?
- Since you are a tech artist, are you planning an online concert?
- Is there tension between art director Rob Sheridan and basist Justin Meldal-Johnsen over coverage of the Scientology protest?
Trent Reznor’s approach is working so well for him in large part because of the audience that he built through the traditional channels. It’s unfortunate that so far there isn’t an easy answer for how unestablished artists can get the foothold required, but it’s clear that he is thinking about it at the same thing that he’s pushing the envelope on the larger scale. (Personally, I can only dream of an 18% success rate on a pay-what-you-want model, my experience with that doesn’t even come close to 18%)
I’ve lost a lot of interest in NIN’s music over the years, but at this point I look up to Trent Reznor as the smartest and strongest voice and influence on the future of music distribution, to the point where his art is irrelevant. The whole world should be watching and listening, because he’s the one guy who sees the entire situation clearly, and is making huge leaps in all the right directions.
Great interview.
I’ve got to second Bogart’s comments, though. NIN are more interesting as marketers now than as musicians. I’m not sure if their last few albums would merit much attention, if Reznor wasn’t giving them away for free.
One of the best interviews I’ve seen in a while. And it’s a good thing that Trent is pretty articulate… I’ve seen some musicians who can barely string sentences together, or give short little stupid sound bite answers to everything. This actually has content!
As to recent NIN… I lost all respect for Trent for a while after The Fragile (which I still describe as the sound of one man wanking). But I’ve found bits of Year Zero tracks and The Slip tumbling around my brain from time to time, there are more hooks in recent stuff… I’m starting to like NIN again, though I’ll never be as committed as I was waaay back (probably just as well, since I was a miserable bastard back then… wait, I still am… just a less angry miserable bastard).
I’m one of the crazies that still buys compact discs. Even with Trent giving things away for free, I don’t feel ripped off with the recent releases. He’s just doing the obvious things you would do to promote music if record companies had never been invented. Really, without looking at it as a competing paradigm to traditional record label distribution and marketing, it just seems like common sense: if you want to sell the whole experience of NIN (live version, studio version, interactive version), give away a slice to lure people to buy the whole pie.
It’s ironic that the very first answer concerns Wolfenstein 3D: it’s the exact same model of distribution ID used. Give away the first episode, lure people to buy the whole enchilada for a reasonable price.
Does Trent Reznor have any children?