An Interview with Trent Reznor

Digg Dialogg: Trent Reznor

The voting period has ended and you’ve picked the top questions that Digg founder Kevin Rose asked Trent Reznor during this Digg Dialogg. Check out the interview below!

Your business model still primarily involves selling music either digitally or physically. Why haven't you embraced advertising as a business model? (+710 diggs, view question, submitted by Kethinov)
What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod? (+571 diggs, view question, submitted by lindbergrm)
What advice do you have for up and coming bands who chose the internet for distribution over traditional channels? (+463 diggs, view question, submitted by chris4404)
What tech gadgets, hardware, software, can you not live without? (+448 diggs, view question, submitted by kevinrose)
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? (+389 diggs, view question, submitted by halofourteen)
What is your favorite thing you have seen done with your music by a fan of NIN? (+335 diggs, view question, submitted by JCrichton)
What are some of your favorite video games? (+287 diggs, view question, submitted by christoscamaro)
Will any of the records of your side project Tapeworm, with TOOL frontman Maynard James Keenan, ever be released? (+251 diggs, view question, submitted by metalchik)
Since you are a tech artist, are you planning an online concert? (+251 diggs, view question, submitted by jacobo)
Is there tension between art director Rob Sheridan and basist Justin Meldal-Johnsen over coverage of the Scientology protest? (+222 diggs, view question, submitted by YourMomsAnAnon)

The question and voting period has ended We've collected the Digg counts when voting ended and you can no longer add new questions.

4743 Questions

Kethinov, on 03/30/2009, -99/+888Trent - you've embraced Creative Commons and file sharing, but your business model (aside from touring) still primarily involves selling music either digitally or physically. Why haven't you embraced advertising as a business model, e.g. placing ads on your torrent tracker? Why let Pirate Bay take all the ad revenue you deserve? Furthermore, why aren't you building a brand new record label based on a modern business model?
inactive, on 03/30/2009, -159/+806What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod?
chris4404, on 03/30/2009, -102/+593What advice do you have for up and coming bands who chose the internet for distribution over traditional channels?
kevinrose, on 03/30/2009, -158/+643What tech gadgets, hardware, software, can you not live without?
halofourteen, on 03/30/2009, -66/+493Have 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?
JCrichton, on 03/30/2009, -55/+416What is your favorite thing you have seen done with your music by a fan of NIN?
christoscamaro, on 03/30/2009, -125/+427Huge fan of Quake, love the sound effects and music. I've heard you played Doom too, and enjoyed it.

What are some of your favorite video games?
metalchik, on 03/30/2009, -70/+354Will any of the records of your side project Tapeworm, with TOOL frontman Maynard James Keenan, ever be released? And do you have any intentions of working with him again in the future?
jacobo, on 03/30/2009, -62/+345sorry for english.
Since you are a tech artist, are you planning an online concert? and what do you think about people willing to pay a few bucks to see concerts/live performances online?

gracias
YourMomsAnAnon, on 03/30/2009, -75/+352If I may step a bit outside the boundaries of the music here, and more behind the scenes of unimportant crap.

Last year, Rob Sheridan photographed a bunch of retards in masks protesting the "church" of scientology. http://www.flickr.com/photos/demonbaby/sets/721576 ...

Your current bassist, Justin Meldal-Johnsen is a scientologist:
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name ...

I'm curious if there has been any tension between the two as a result of Rob's coverage of the protest. Additionally, do you have any concern that money brought in from your tours will be given to a "religion" that is against free speech, has forced labour camps and that despite being organized as a business, has sued its way into having a more privledged tax exemption than any other religion?
theevilgumby25, on 03/30/2009, -71/+328Musician you most like to punch in the face?
nugx, on 03/30/2009, -60/+285What's your favorite song to perform live?
ghedofocker, on 03/30/2009, -70/+283What do you do outside of Nine Inch Nails, favorite movies, tv shows, beer, etc? Tell us more of the man behind the curtain.
tsudohnimh, on 03/30/2009, -55/+261This past year NIN released 2 major works online for free and not only was the buzz huge but commercial sales did very well. After seeing your commercial success have any other artists expressed surprise at the response or possibly changed their thinking about music distrubtion?
gvsurunner22, on 03/30/2009, -38/+212What do you think are the bottlenecks of rebuilding the music industry revolving around free music distribution and money made on tours/merch/ads? How can we promote and encourage this new business model?
Namaval, on 03/30/2009, -22/+188The remix.nin.com site has a constant stream of amazing music from the fans. Do you listen to these mixes? Is it difficult as an artist to hear other people interpreting your work?
GarySinise, on 03/30/2009, -105/+264What is your favorite era of Nine Inch Nails, and why?
berniePach, on 03/30/2009, -34/+187Recently you mentioned on Twitter that you were working on an open camera policy for your next tour, can you give an update on that? What's involved on making this happen?
Drakh, on 03/30/2009, -29/+169How do you manage the information overload with so many people replying to your blog posts, twitters, message boards, et cetera? At what point does jumping into the limelight actually become counterproductive?
NHeerDesign, on 03/30/2009, -60/+196After NIN's hiatus, are you planning on bringing Nine Inch Nails back? Might you expand on the Ghosts album, and make it a project of its own?
Xpletive, on 03/30/2009, -68/+203What are the five most-played tracks on your iPod?
AHammer16, on 03/30/2009, -27/+158I believe you do not own the rights to "Pretty Hate Machine", they were sold to a third party years ago. Is this true and how do you feel about it? Are you interested in re-claiming those rights to that album?
NodZero, on 03/30/2009, -39/+162How are you doing?

Seriously, I mean that as a truly honest question, and I'm asking on a personal level. Do you feel happy at this point in your life?
tacojohn, on 03/30/2009, -46/+161Where do you think the music industry is failing currently and where do you think they've improved the last few years?
halofourteen, on 03/30/2009, -42/+142What is your favorite instrument (including sequencers and singing) to play and why?
dlprager, on 03/30/2009, -37/+131You are widely regarded as an atheist based on the following quote of yours, "There are just some things that don't seem very fair in the world, like this ***** hypocrisy of organized religion. I just don't understand how people can blindly believe a bunch of the ***** they're fed, to believe it so that they don't think too hard about other issues. 'Be a good boy and you'll go to heaven.' If it works for you, fine, but it doesn't work for me and that pisses me off, because I kind of wish it did." Please explain your beliefs in more detail.
Radeo, on 03/30/2009, -50/+143What is your favorite film and why?
mojoel, on 03/30/2009, -32/+119If you could collaborate with one artist, alive or dead, who would you choose and why?
ItsJustDave, on 03/30/2009, -28/+114Trent: I'd gather it's pretty clear to you that there is a large amount of demand for live recordings of Nine Inch Nails' shows. If there's any doubt, one look at the Live Recording Request thread at echoingthesound.org confirms this. Regardless of how many people download these recordings, not a cent flows back to you. Furthermore, there's a large number of unscrupulous sellers on ebay who profit off of this demand taking upwards of $15 + shipping for a pair of burned CDs (more for a DVD). I wonder if you've considered a Nine Inch Nails' specific live recording torrent site? This site could be ratio based, but offer the option of donations (to you) for users with bad ratios (a number of existing torrent sites already employ this strategy). I'm not sure of the legal implications in offering older recordings (while you were still on a label), but I'd gather things are wide open for those since. I believe this could work either for user shared audience recordings or (if you chose to release them) official soundboard recordings. As a fan, this idea is appealing to me as it provides a resource for live NIN recordings that: can be held to certain standards of quality, is comprehensive (for released recordings), is officially endorsed, and that sends money where it belongs. Are there any specific legal issues that prevent this?
wolrah, on 03/30/2009, -28/+114Where do you see the music industry ten years out? The independent and open approach seems to have worked for Nine Inch Nails, but what about groups and artists who do not have the benefits of a well known name and a tech savvy fanbase? Are the labels still needed, just in a different form?
n00tz, on 03/30/2009, -32/+113When you listen to other artists' music, what genres do you tend to find yourself listening to? More specifically, do you look to other genres besides those that your music falls into?
Chutie, on 03/31/2009, -15/+86Do you feel that albums like "Pretty Hate Machine" and "The Downward Spiral" still represent who you are as a person and musician, or do you no longer relate to those works?
morgrar, on 03/30/2009, -40/+106Is there any chance of a 5.1 surround sound mix of the Fragile?
Shabow, on 03/30/2009, -39/+105With the rapid growth of illegal file sharing through websites such as ThePirateBay.org, it seems that the current revenue model for selling music seems to be ineffective in the 21st century. Would you change how the industry promotes and sells its music? If so, how?
Sesquipedalism, on 03/31/2009, -14/+79Given what's known of your methods in the studio, it's fair to assume that there must be scads of either unfinished or, for some reason, unsatisfactory (to you) songs collecting metaphorical dust on at least one hard drive somewhere. Some of this material from the 1998-99 era, you've admitted, ended up on Saul Williams' latest album. Previously unheard studio recordings of "Nonentity" and "Not So Pretty Now" were just disseminated via the NIN/JA website. Will your devout fans ever see any more of this previously unreleased material, whether in the form of an "apocrypha" collection or a disc of "sketches," like the Ghosts project? Many artists are hesitant when it comes to revisiting abandoned projects: would you even consider revisiting this older work in order to finalize it for release? Now that you're independent of any major record label, would you even be allowed, legally speaking, to release older creations, or would some intellectual property clause in your old Interscope copyright get in the way?
allow, on 03/30/2009, -45/+1101 song that changed the world of Trent Reznor is _____________
farTart, on 04/01/2009, -65/+129What do you think about the fact that every time you take a ***** it appears on the Digg front page?

Does it make you want to eat a more high fibre diet? Or do you worry that if you don't stay regularly constipated that you'll lose the angst that powers your prolific recording and producing schedule?

We need to be told.
xrsd, on 03/30/2009, -21/+81What were the last 5 albums you bought legally or what were the last 5 you downloaded illegally ?
bassman730, on 03/30/2009, -40/+95What do you do with your free time outside of NIN?
slythic, on 03/30/2009, -23/+73Over the last couple of years you seem to have paid some attention to your physical fitness. What made you start improving your health and appearance? How do you find the time and motivation to continue?
Picciuto, on 03/30/2009, -31/+73During the hiatus, do you still plan on producing and remixing other artists? If so, what can we look forward to?
AustinMeoang, on 03/30/2009, -23/+64What music did you listen to in high school and/or college? Do you still listen to it today?
3vno, on 03/30/2009, -12/+51Trent Reznor, what is your favorite hardware or software instrument for kick starting your creative process?
joketter, on 03/30/2009, -27/+63What are your thoughts on the outrageously high dollar lawsuits made by the RIAA? Do you believe these lawsuits have helped or hindered the music industry?
swmbuk, on 03/30/2009, -27/+61Which music artist do you currently respect the most, and also which music artist do you respect the least?
JeffNothing, on 03/31/2009, -15/+49Who is one artist you have always wanted to work with but haven't? Also, have you ever wanted to collaborate with an artist that turned you down?
virtualme, on 03/31/2009, -17/+50You've said that you were very pleased with the documenting of the Beside You In Time tour and was disappointed when the same chance fell through with the Lights In The Sky tour. Have you ever considered giving your fans a "behind the scenes" look at other aspects of your art? Maybe a documentary on the recording of an album?
bcroghan, on 03/30/2009, -27/+60Before you announced the hiatus there was a lot of rumors about a Year Zero television show and a sequel album to go along with that. Are these ideas dead, or is there still a future for Year Zero?
the41stgrave, on 03/30/2009, -23/+54Is there any interesting side projects that are being planned for when NIN takes a break?
liamneville, on 03/30/2009, -7/+37Have you considered producing another film soundtrack to follow up Lost Highway and Natural Born Killers?
Show 51 - 100 of 4743 discussions

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