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Nine Inch Nails Frontman Was a Member of OiNK

torrentfreak.com — Following the bust of the OiNK BitTorrent tracker, most of its 180,000 members are keeping their heads down and trying to stay inconspicuous. However, Trent Reznor, frontman of Nine Inch Nails isn ’t worried: “I had an account there” he said. “it was like the world’s greatest record store.”

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  • LuckyEMS, on 11/08/2007, -10/+228just proves that piracy is everywhere and everyone does it and can never be stopped
    • Bklynadam, on 11/08/2007, -77/+1you're a tool
    • Tetraca, on 11/01/2007, -1/+28Oh it can be stopped, but not in a way in which either the artists or RIAA would win. If music was free in both senses of the word it could never be truly pirated.
      • shawnz, on 11/01/2007, -0/+4the riaa aren't clever enough to think of that -- they'd just ban music
    • blakeage, on 11/01/2007, -0/+14...I'll get you next time Gadget...next time!
      • Skooma714, on 11/01/2007, -0/+6REEEEOOOOWWW
        • Yurhiness, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1hahaha. I heard this in my head as soon as I read blakage's comment.
    • kingkilr, on 11/02/2007, -20/+3I'd just like to point out that at least Mr. Trent admits it's theft.
      • heavyal, on 11/02/2007, -1/+19Then Mr. Trent would be wrong. Theft is the taking of property from another there by preventing the owner from its use. Copying 1's and 0's from one location to another does not deprive the owner of the original piece of property. While this could be argued as infringement of copyright, it is most certainly not theft.
        • quiggley, on 11/01/2007, -2/+3Actually, piracy is a form of theft. Just because you're not physically taking it doesn't mean you're not stealing. You're not giving money to the artist (However little it may be.), the record company (Even though most record companies have more money than god.), whoever, for the work you're enjoying.

          Of course, this doesn't stop anyone, including me. You sound like an idiot when you deny that piracy is stealing.
          • shawnz, on 11/01/2007, -1/+2but... it isn't. you're not taking anything from anyone.
          • quiggley, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1@ shawnz:
            Technically, you're correct. You're not taking anything from anyone. But you aren't paying for the songs you're listening to. Piracy may not be as bad as stealing a car or whatever those commercials say, but it still is theft.
          • shawnz, on 11/04/2007, -0/+1@quiggley:

            technically i'm correct, but generally i'm not?
        • mthompson176, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1Someone doesn't know what theft means. Look it up in the dictionary.
          • quiggley, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1"...taking of the property or services of another without consent." How is piracy any different from this?
    • sathias, on 11/01/2007, -0/+22Trent recently got very pissed off at his record label for charging 35 dollars or something ridiculous for his new CD here in Australia, they told him the reason for the high price was that NIN fans would pay whatever they wanted to get his new CD, being very dedicated fans. So during a concert here in Australia, he encouraged fans to steal his own music.

      http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/steal-music-nail ...
      • heypetray, on 11/01/2007, -0/+4They also say "It's the packaging" when confronted with high prices, but the upgraded packaging comes out of Trent's pocket (From one of the digg articles that was posted a couple months ago)
    • OblivionMage, on 11/01/2007, -0/+2Let the Hydra live on.
    • santouras, on 11/01/2007, -0/+6Its not exactly piracy, its more like easier access to music in a format that people want. People don't want to get nickel and dimed for a DRM'd, low quality track. They want to download CD quality, preferably lossless audio. Thats why oink was so popular. Full albums, high quality, fast access.
  • xStereo, on 11/02/2007, -14/+138Exactly, I really like that a lot of muscians are embracing piracy and the ideas of it lately.
    • SleepingOrange, on 11/01/2007, -12/+4Spoken like someone who isn't a musician. Trent Reznor doesn't speak for me. I like to pay for my music, kinda like i pay for food. I don't steal food from the grocery store just because I know the cashier is only going to get $8 an hour and most of the money is going to the "corporation".
      • lowerlogic, on 11/03/2007, -0/+7speak for yourself. I'm currently torrenting a cheeseburger and can't wait to print it out on my shinny new nanotube printer. Gonna taste just like the real thing!
      • thailand1972, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1I agree with you and don't know why you're being dugg down here (well I do, coz Diggers are just sheep digging up anything to do with OiNK/NIN/Radiohead/***** the RIAA that's pro-piracy). Musicians still get a cut from music sales. I think the price of CDs are expensive, but it's not a binary situation of "pirating is good" or "I love the RIAA" - I want to support musicians in any way (the ones I like, of course, as I would if I were a fan of any art). Piracy doesn't help musicians at all, in fact it kills the labels that support them and give them publicity. It's funny how everyone here seems to be fans of bands that are/were on record labels.....
        • Nowheredan, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1Musicians often end up in debt to the record companies after making an album. They repay it and make their living by going on tour and selling tickets, and people know about them because the recording companies have promoted their album and raised awareness of their act. If, however, the recording industry is no longer needed for promotion, then artists can release their music online for free and still expect to make money on tour.
        • thecity, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1"It's funny how everyone here seems to be fans of bands that are/were on record labels" Thailand, if you can't understand the strange coincidence above and its relationship to user submitted news stories, then I have no doubt you don't understand an argument for why the corporate music industry is failing.
    • XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, on 11/02/2007, -1/+8Who the ***** are "a lot of musicians"?
    • nogChoco, on 11/01/2007, -0/+4filesharing, not piracy. Arrrrr!
    • AdverseEntropy, on 11/02/2007, -0/+5I'm not so sure that a lot of musicians support piracy, rather a reformation of the entire distribution system of music and the industry as a whole.
    • offput, on 11/02/2007, -0/+4I don't embrace "piracy." I mean, I've probably downloaded terabytes worth of material through bittorrent but I don't consider myself a pirate primarily because I use it as a testing ground. Back before the internet, you had friends who maybe had a movie or a tv show they taped on vhs or further back vinyl records you shared to let word spread about a great new whatever. The internet is an expansion of that idea. People who really care about the media they watch will end up supporting their creators either by beginning to watch the shows when they air and "struggling" through commercials (honestly, I enjoy commercials, just not the ones they overlay on the screen as the show airs) or seeing the director or writer's next movie in theatres, or buying the album they really love. That kind of stuff has happened for decades. It will keep happening. There will be people who take everything and don't appreciate it but there will also always be people who really treasure these new experiences and want those and those like it to thrive by supporting them however they can.
    • thailand1972, on 11/02/2007, -4/+2***** piracy. I'll pay for good songs and support the people who make my life better through great art. I even *feel* better doing this. Just let me get to hear the tracks first, and then don't rip me off. I'm getting tired of piracy being "OK" on Digg. It is NOT OK.
      • cliffski, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1agreed 100%. the more of these whining little digg kiddies that get thrown in a cell, the happier i'll be.
  • xStereo, on 11/01/2007, -66/+5Exactly, I really like that a lot of muscians are embracing piracy and the ideas of it lately.
    • Mikhail101, on 11/03/2007, -2/+2dude he probably bought music but he also downloaded too, piracy is not downloading, jsut coz i download music im not pirating i eventually buy it.

      i got into iron maiden through demonoid and once i downloaded all there albums i had cash to blow and all except 4 of there albums all live and studio.
  • thinkingserious, on 11/01/2007, -20/+53The concerts are becomming the new profit center for artists.
    • PATSCRU, on 11/01/2007, -17/+5concerts are becoming the new ripoff in the music industry....i guess they're getting us back for all the pirating we do.
      • singularity2026, on 11/03/2007, -0/+1ticketmaster is just another leech in the entertainment industry, just like the record labels.
    • Arkavus, on 11/02/2007, -2/+86They always have been. Artists rarely make their fortunes on CD sales alone.
      • chaosium, on 11/03/2007, -7/+8CD sales and production LOSE money for the artists, if anything.
        • drouk1556, on 11/03/2007, -5/+4haha are you kidding me?
          • chaosium, on 11/03/2007, -0/+3When you factor in the loans taken for production and the money taken from the artist for distribution, i'm absolutely serious.
      • crestfall, on 11/01/2007, -0/+5I have read numerous times that artists only make money on the back end if sales exceed 1 mil... which is like 1/100th of a percent of artists on major labels. The advance is the only cash they can count on. All the other back end is used to pay overhead, kick-backs, production fees, the damage margin, coke habits of execs, etc...
    • Bklynadam, on 11/01/2007, -1/+18Concerts are the new profit center for ticket scalpers
      • Firehed, on 11/03/2007, -0/+12Oh, I wish it wasn't the case. I've seen 300%+ markup from the price listed on the artist's website on occasion. Sorry - as much as I'd like to support the artists by paying to go to their concerts, I'm not paying that much - especially knowing that most of the money isn't going to the artist.

        Hm... that sounds familiar. Seriously, what the hell? CD money goes to the RIAA, and now most concert ticket money goes to the reselling agencies. Would they PLEASE put a mailing address on their website so I can just send a check, or a paypal donation button, or something? I WANT to support artists. But I don't want to support the third-party profiteers, especially when they end up with most of the money.

        Seriously - set up a website, and sell the music there. Or give it away with a donation button. Whatever. Bandwidth is crazy cheap for mass-distribution with Amazon S3 and the like, and you don't need a complicated system. Don't give me the "it pays for the marketing" BS. 95% of the music I've bought/downloaded/sampled has stemmed from a song that was used (almost certainly without permission) in a video clip someone had thrown together. I've found other music that suited my tastes by using that track as a seed in Pandora and browsing through Amazon recommendations. Not through the radio, not through advertising, and certainly not through TV. Through the internet, thanks to stuff that didn't even exist five years ago.
    • sgtpppr, on 11/01/2007, -0/+10From reading the replies to this comment, I think a lot of you need to go outside more. The only bands that don't make the majority of their money touring are the super over produced pop stars like britney spears and most rappers. Scalpers are a new problem? Where have you been for the past 30 years?
      • heypetray, on 11/01/2007, -2/+1I'm sure scalpers have been around since the stone age.
        Okay, maybe not that long ago...
    • FuriS12, on 11/01/2007, -2/+2so they should be then wen can finally get rid of all the pop digitalized voiced bitches that cnt rly sign, hinder are a good example "decent" (terms used loosly) soundin music on the cd here them live and you will dig your eardrums out with a fork
    • AQUANETA, on 11/01/2007, -1/+1i havent been but to a handful of concerts.
      piracy = inevitable = no music money
    • merreborn, on 11/01/2007, -1/+4Labels make money on CDs. Artists make money on concerts.
    • sital, on 11/01/2007, -1/+1I don't think we can blame artists for raising concert ticket prices. You can't have everything for free.
      • xJudahx, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1If we didn't pay it, they wouldn't charge it.
  • Holocaust, on 11/01/2007, -32/+3IRONY.
    • natedouglas, on 11/01/2007, -2/+20Wrong :-D
      • roflcopterdown, on 11/01/2007, -1/+8Hey, take it easy on Holocaust. That's Alanis Morisette's digg handle. She can't help it, she just doesn't know.
  • badenglishihave, on 11/01/2007, -7/+25I hope he didn't share any music from Prince or he's gonna have one pissed off "artist" on his doorstep in the near future.

    Good for you Trent, rock on (even if I don't especially enjoy your music)
  • natedouglas, on 11/01/2007, -0/+137Good comments by Reznor:
    “iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don’t feel cool when I go there. I’m tired of seeing John Mayer’s face pop up. I feel like I’m being hustled when I visit there, and I don’t think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc.”

    As countless others have said, countereconomics is the way to teach the industry a lesson. Create a black market with extremely good value, and they'll have to compete just to survive. Maybe in the next 20-30 years they'll realize that they can't hope to sue out of existence, and will give up and charge a reasonable price for music.
    • KingAwesome, on 11/01/2007, -2/+50These 2 paragraphs are also great:

      The quality uploaders at OiNK get a mention too: “People on those boards, they’re grateful for the person that uploaded it — they’re the hero. They’re not stealing it because they’re going to make money off of it; they’re stealing it because they love the band.”

      Underlining the fact that sometimes people pirate because they aren’t getting what they want from the music labels, Trent finishes up: “I’m not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want.”

      That's the point... these sites are there because there is a void. The RIAA backed music industry is unwilling to change, and is dead set with it's old-school business model and refuses to give the consumers what they want.
      • bmw036, on 11/01/2007, -4/+12He really shouldn't use the word "steal". It's not stealing, it's copyright infringement. These are completely different, regardless of what the RIAA/MPAA would tell you.
    • GGreen420, on 11/01/2007, -2/+420 or 30? I'm hoping its closer to 2 or 3.
    • TheRealPod, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1John Mayer came to VT this Fall so he's cool in my book. His chapelle show appearance? Genius!
  • treed, on 11/03/2007, -0/+173Would explain why OiNK had Year Zero before anyone else.
    • zmjone2992, on 11/01/2007, -0/+22The cd was awesome though, it like changed when you played it. very cool stuff
      • strictnein, on 11/01/2007, -0/+12Yep. It had heat sensitive ink. You'd put it in the CD player and it was black. Take it out, and it was white. And there is binary on the CD that spelled out something (a URL or something?).
    • amacinnis, on 11/01/2007, -1/+13Actually, OiNK got Year Zero before anyone else because one of its members figured out a way to rip each song as it was streamed from the NIN website. I was one of the first ones who downloaded it from him, it did wonders for my ratio!
      • hakr89, on 11/01/2007, -0/+3Wouldn't that have been considered a transcode and have been banned?
        • rexbron, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1Not that that actually matters anymore...
      • ObieOnce, on 11/01/2007, -0/+2If I remember right it was deleted but OiNK did have a good copy up damn quick.
    • flasher1000, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1Those people saying that it got ripped off the website, have you ever thought that maybe that 'user' was (or was an affiliate of) Trent himself? He's always been saying that he doesn't feel piracy rips off the artist and would probably be really interested in what 180,000 of his fellow oinkers thought of it.
  • PricklySponge, on 11/02/2007, -2/+34What a badass
  • banq59, on 11/02/2007, -1/+57Trent is the man.
  • bitemegates, on 11/01/2007, -29/+3ok, I read it the 4th time. buried. dupe and getting old now.
  • PacoDEmu, on 11/01/2007, -18/+4Wow, even God himself uses bittorrent (:
  • silent, on 11/01/2007, -14/+8http://digg.com/tech_news/Trent_Reznor_and_Saul_Wi ...

    *cough*
  • digitallysick, on 11/01/2007, -11/+4dupe i read this yesterday, is it a slow news day or what
  • actorboy, on 11/02/2007, -25/+12“iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don’t feel cool when I go there."

    Because we all know feeling cool is of the utmost importance. Who knew Trent's self-esteem was so fragile.
    • revjustin2, on 10/31/2007, -1/+7Maybe those of us who listen to NIN.
    • stickywheelz, on 11/02/2007, -2/+11He was referring to the corn vibe he gets when he sees John Mayer and Britney Spears ads everywhere. There is nothing cool about that. And feeling cool actually feels pretty good.
      • revjustin2, on 11/01/2007, -1/+5Hey man, don't lump John Mayer and Britney together. John Mayer, like him or not, is a pretty accomplished guitar player and songwriter. Check out the John Mayer Trio sometime. Britney can't even lip-sync and bounce around anymore.
    • mrkmrk, on 11/01/2007, -2/+6Pretty sure that he was implying that people who use iPods and iTunes think they're cool for doing so, but he disagrees.
    • GGreen420, on 11/01/2007, -1/+9He's 100% right. Shopping at Sam Goody in the day's of the classic record store was just not hip. It was cold, corporate, they had very limited collections and the staff didn't know anything about music. It was the old school record shops that had the deep stacks, the knowledgeable staff and the 'scene' you were looking for. It wasn't just about 'feeling cool', its about being part of the scene and not just another rube.
    • GGreen420, on 11/01/2007, -2/+0sorry, dupe ^^
  • Bklynadam, on 11/01/2007, -16/+9It takes balls to stand up and put yourself out there as supporting an anti-industry stance, especially because it was exactly that industry that made Trent Reznor who he is now.
    I have a feeling, its actually more about making it a "publicity stunt" - just like the news of the Radiohead "pay what you want model" --
    Just say something shocking to keep you name in the headlines!
    It works a lot of the time
    • revjustin2, on 11/01/2007, -0/+11The "just a publicity stunt" things doesn't really hold water with these two artists. While they did get publicity, I am sure that neither party intended their actions to act only as such. Believe it or not, it is possible to be successful and still have some integrity. You don't see it a lot, but it's possible and in the case of TR and Radiohead, I think they walk the walk.
    • sidian, on 11/01/2007, -6/+0i totally hear that. this all falls under PR. you are spot on. even people with integrity can have business sense.
      • heypetray, on 11/01/2007, -0/+2Regardless of the PR, if the statement they were making wasn't so massively popular by their fans, they would lose credibility/integrity/fanbase. It's not just about plugging your name into a headline, it's about plugging your name into a statement.
  • indiefan, on 11/01/2007, -9/+1i wonder if he's begging for a waffles.fm invite now
    • mrlyons, on 11/01/2007, -4/+2let's not do to waffles what we did to oink idiots.
  • Typhoon2009, on 11/01/2007, -0/+80Get me 320Kbps audio at decent prices with no DRM and you've got yourself a customer.
    • Firehed, on 11/01/2007, -0/+22Amazon's MP3 store gets you most of the way there. 89c for most tracks seems pretty fair, and it's all DRM-free 256kbps MP3. I'd prefer 320k or lossless mostly out of principle (I can't hear the difference, and frankly don't want to or I'd have a lot of CDs that need to be re-ripped), but it's a pretty fair system. Yeah, I'd love 5-cent AllOfMP3 tracks too, but most tracks have more entertainment value than a movie or TV show considering the number of times you'll play them, so in terms of cost/time, they're a great value.
    • NimbleRabit, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1Make it positive DRM in fact.
    • Jeffler, on 11/01/2007, -2/+1Fine, if the Hurricanes let the Leafs beat them once FFS
    • sleepwalkers, on 11/01/2007, -0/+2Actually, Trent just produced Saul Williams' new album and they decided to release it for free at 192Kbps, or $5 for your choice of 192Kbps, 320Kbps or FLAC format.
      How awesome is that? Get "good enough" quality for free, or have your choice for a mere $5.
  • Nostromo13, on 11/01/2007, -3/+17yup, it was the world's greatest record store (because it was free)
  • davidsetagaya, on 11/01/2007, -7/+8book publishers, you're next. Goodbye $100 textbooks, hello......uh, someone help me with this one.
    • nightsweat, on 11/01/2007, -2/+3The problem with textbooks is that it costs the same amount of money to set up a press to print 500,000 copies of something as it does to print 2,000 copies.
      • Flooded, on 11/01/2007, -0/+6But it costs next to nothing to print to PDF and distribute it electronically, just as you would save to MP3 from [insert audio mixing software]. I think that is what grandparent was getting at.

    • sinrtb, on 11/01/2007, -0/+3The thing is that text book publishers just republish their text books as soon as the pdf is leaked onto the net. Sitting here staring at a math book thats 2 editions old and having only bought it new 2 years ago. Open up the new one and the only change is in the problem sets. The chapters are off by one but the text inside is almost exactly the same. I have no problem following along in class or reading the assigned reading i just have to borrow a classmates text in order to get the homework problems, most times the problems are identical just in a different order. hrmm publishers are 100x worse then the RIAA, 200 dollars for nothing.
      • heypetray, on 10/31/2007, -0/+1That's why when I become a teacher, I'm going to pay to make a zillion copies of worksheets for each of my students (out of pocket) so they don't have to buy the books at crazy prices. I'm pretty sure it wont be a popular idea since school bookstores probably raise a lot of money selling ***** text books.
      • cliffski, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1for nothing? how many textbooks have you authored kid?
        • sinrtb, on 11/21/2007, -0/+1Keep in mind I bought one edition already for $200, and am now expected to pay another $200 for new problem sets. The author already got his cut from the first book i bought, the publisher is raking in more money by rearranging problem sets. The new text has no new information.

    • TheRealPod, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1Everyone close their eyes make a wish for cheap full color e-paper.........okay........WISH!!!
  • zachshmack, on 11/01/2007, -11/+13dupe. here's the digg page for the original New York Entertainment article:
    http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Trent_Reznor_and_Sau ...
  • dupswapdrop, on 11/02/2007, -5/+3Just how many musicians buy songs from other bands? How many legally purchased cd's do you think Prince owns?
  • bemyokono, on 11/01/2007, -1/+15this is basically an article that contains no information other than a summary of an article on the exact same thing that made the front page two days ago.
    • thailand1972, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1You are correct, and it's nice to see you not get Dugg down unlike the 10 others who said the same thing before you in this thread :)
  • stiggynet, on 11/01/2007, -7/+4Damn I love NIN. Of course musicians illegally file share! Because it’s not the musicians that get screwed when we “steal music” it’s the LABELS that get screwed. It’s the LABELS and the RIAA that fight back and sue.

    Musicians want people to listen to their music.

    Now we just have to get Trent as a member on http://www.musicneutral.com = would be awesome.
  • pxlpshr, on 09/04/2008, -2/+15Next on Digg: arm-chair music lovers who don't know the difference between Trent Reznor and NiN.
    • cintek, on 10/31/2007, -0/+0You would think they would know. I don't own any NiN albums but I know who and what Trent Reznor is.
      • purzzzell, on 11/01/2007, -0/+3What (I assume) he's saying is that many people aren't aware that Nine Inch Nails IS Trent Reznor - he tours with a band (used to be called "flood", not sure currently) but everything in the studio is HIM alone.
        • pxlpshr, on 09/04/2008, -0/+2my point was regarding duplicate content on digg... this story was already dugg.
    • TheRealPod, on 11/04/2007, -0/+3NiN is what your shoot in Quake right?
  • Vedesh, on 11/01/2007, -2/+7its funny, while listening to my ipod and upon finishing reading this article, "closer" started to play. lol and yes i did steal that song. :P
    • thecity, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1you dont have to lie to make friends/getdiggs
  • i4mt3hwin, on 11/01/2007, -0/+3I agree with his point on paying, I mean I do want to support the artists. If they ever made another oink where you payed for the song, but got FLAC/High Bitrate MP3's, and artists could charge what they felt was appropriate i'd definitely sign up.

    First time artists could sell their tracks for cheap, or even for free in order to get their music out there, then could later up the prices a bit. Since it would be hosted on a tracker site using bit-torrent technology, the bands wouldn't have to worry about having to pay for their own servers and such.
    The technology is out there, artists just need to embrace it.
    • xJudahx, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1It's been attempted many times.
    • sleepwalkers, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1Made a comment similar to this, but figured I'd repeat myself here...
      Trent and Saul Williams' decided to release Saul's new album online, a la Radiohead, but offer 192Kbps for free and your choice of 192Kbps, 320Kbps or FLAC for a measly $5.
      Granted, I know it's a single album and it's definitely not something everyone will enjoy, but it's certainly a start.
  • Magnolit, on 11/01/2007, -2/+9By the way, what torrent site is best for Lossless Album rips?
  • CYR1X, on 11/01/2007, -2/+11Hearing this makes me want to just go out and buy a NIN album, even though I've never actually listened to his band particularly.
    • AustinMeoang, on 11/01/2007, -0/+2You should try it, it's really amazing stuff
    • happyfundave, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1Start with The Downward Spiral, if you dont like that then NIN might not be your cup of tea. Hopefully you will be like me and that album will open you up to one of the most talented (and apparently super cool) artists today.
    • UsrBinGirl, on 11/01/2007, -0/+0If you're not a particular fan of "Closer," then you might be like me and prefer The Fragile and With Teeth instead. (I do see the genius in The Downward Spiral, but it's a bit harsh for me.) Year Zero is the first album I've owned, and I'm slowly getting the rest. NIN is different from what I thought it was in the early 90's.
    • tesuji05, on 11/01/2007, -1/+1With Teeth is probably their most 'accessible' album in my opinion, especially for someone who's not previously familiar with their stuff. Start with that one and then move out from there.
  • dcharti, on 11/02/2007, -0/+14None of this answers the questions of how bands are going to get their start, get promoted, get in front of people or where they'll get all the money to record their album(s). I love getting things for free as much as the next guy, and piracy is fun and all, but at the end of the day someone needs to pay for all these things. Right now that someone is the record label, unless budding garage bands have a few hundred thousand (or million) dollars stuffed away. The few success stories from MySpace and Facebook are great, but the music landscape is made up of a helluva lot more bands than those lucky few.

    Trent's fortunate because he gets to say this stuff and rally support from his fans against the very industry that gave him his start and all the money to get where he is today. Again, I'm not a fan of the labels; I'd jump at the chance to kick the execs of everyone of of then squarely in the nuts. But the fact still remains that being a successful band is a two part process: selling a lot of records and selling a lot of concerts. Someone has to be there to supply a lot of money up front to help a band get off the ground, and unfortunately, that someone is still the record labels.

    What I'd like to see are some of these musicians like Reznor who are breaking ranks start up a record label by artists, for artists. Pool some of their money, bring some fresh practices to the industry, sign some new bands and truly make a change.

    Then I'll start doing my happy dance.
    • freezeout, on 11/01/2007, -0/+5the band Hard-Fi recorded their album "stars of cctv" with a budget of less than $1000. It was picked as album of the year by NME. You really don't need alot of money to record an awesome sounding album these days. a record company would have had them record the same album for $200,000 and then billed the band for it.
      • thailand1972, on 11/01/2007, -0/+0I think dcharti's point is that you need megamoney to promote yourself, and that's where record labels come in. Yes it's cheap to record these days, but promotion is everything to get to the point where you can make money from concerts.
    • superdog87, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1Anyone can record for cheap. I have a studio and friends of mine have studios. We all charge $100 a song or less. The quality is awesome! Bands get started by playing shows and touring everywhere. Go as many places as possible. Not every band needs a million dollar contract to be famous... and if people like you. Your fans will promote you!
    • cunnybungler, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1"against the very industry that gave him his start and all the money to get where he is today" ...actually, and I don't expect you to know this off the top of your head, but if you look into how nine inch nails got started, he became successful through extensive touring, as he was initially signed to a record label whose bread and butter was compilations of TV theme songs. By the time Interscope bought him out of his contract, he had already recorded Broken on his own and was set up to record The Downward Spiral. Certainly, being on Interscope allowed for larger scale distribution of his finished product, but the guy essentially built his position on his own, definitely recorded everything on his own, and has been railing against labels pretty much from day one. It's only now that there is a viable alternative distribution model.
    • sleepwalkers, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1He just produced an album by a much smaller artist named Saul Williams. They're experimenting with an online-only distribution model that could be a solution for smaller artists.
      It's a cheap service called Musicane, where they just provide the bandwidth for them to distribute the album (in lieu of a label to distribute the album). It's being given away in 192Kbps MP3s, and you have your choice of higher quality or even lossless files if you just pay $5 for the album.
      Granted, Saul did go through a label for his first two albums, but this is an artist who has a much lower profile than a Nine Inch Nails or Radiohead and is hoping to be able to be successful with the same type of distribution model.
      If I'm not mistaken, either the two of them (or some people tied to the two of them) are starting this Musicane service. This might be the closest thing to that artist-run record label you're suggesting.
  • bingobongony, on 11/01/2007, -13/+2It is funny that Trent Reznor actually thinks that the world (the REAL world..not the Digg fatansy world) actually gives a ***** about him or his band...or has for about a decade.
    • Raerth, on 11/01/2007, -3/+3So you assume that you and your circle jerk of buddies are the world eh?
  • djchronz, on 11/01/2007, -14/+3***** trent he stole someones beat on his new album he deserves to get sued....i can't believe a star would actually stoop so low as to steal someone else's music no wonder he's doing illegal downloads can't find new stuff for himself
    • purzzzell, on 11/01/2007, -0/+7cite your source.

      and while we're at it, cite who the other artist was that he stole from, and what song - this is the first I'm hearing ANY of this, and frankly, I don't believe you.
    • enri, on 11/01/2007, -0/+3I sure hope that was sarcasm, because almost every musician has "stole" from another musician at one point or another.
  • HanSolo69, on 11/02/2007, -7/+3I'm sure that with his busy touring and recording schedule he was able to go to shows for all the bands that he stole music from and buy merch from them and really show how much he appreciated them. oh..wait..no..he's just an *****. get over yourself and pay for music.
    • cunnybungler, on 11/01/2007, -0/+3Actually, he's probably seen more bands shows while he was on tour for a few months than most people here probably see during the course of a year. And when he's not on tour, he goes to a LOT of shows. Some of his favorite artists got paid to remix tracks for a release he's putting out in late November. In the article this one cites, he mentioned paying $5,000 for the new Radiohead album. Maybe you feel more comfortable making assumptions, but maybe you should do a little research before acting like such a blowhard.
  • fatadamblog, on 11/01/2007, -1/+1world’s greatest record store

    God that right! Free!
  • steveooo, on 11/01/2007, -6/+1I might have respected him for encouraging the stealing of music BEFORE he made a million bucks from legal sales... Its too bad that the only way he can get anyone to listen to him is by doing sh*t like this. How about just writhing a good song, oh wait I forget the 90s are over...
  • nsjoker, on 11/01/2007, -3/+4Again, there is no NIN front man. TR IS NIN. You'd think you ***** title-writers would learn by now. But no, you'd be wrong.
    • 5plic3r, on 11/01/2007, -0/+2Wrong. NIN wouldn't be what it is without Mark Ellis' contributions.
  • getsk3wled, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1=o
  • HottisHiatus, on 11/01/2007, -1/+1Hmmm I read this earlier... I believe it was number one on digg
  • Ascendancy5, on 11/01/2007, -1/+2***** epic.
  • tcasey22, on 11/01/2007, -0/+9Just say Trent Reznor in the title next time.
  • BrokenBrick, on 11/01/2007, -0/+2Trent Reznor is my hero. I am going to listen to NIN the rest of the night to honor his awesomeness. I agree, if OiNK has cost money and had been a "legitimate" file sharing endeavor I would have paid for it in an instant. It was so much better than iTunes will ever be with its DRM and its whoring of artists. Maybe I will be a piggy for Halloween.
  • ZachTorpy, on 11/01/2007, -0/+5"Nine Inch Nails Frontman Was a Member of OiNK"

    Don't you mean: "Nine Inch Nails was a member of OiNK"?
    Trent is Nine Inch Nails, he hires musicians for the live shows.
  • f821, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1Quite Frankly, I take comments such as the ones stated in the article by someone such as Trent Reznor at a much higher degree than I would for an artist like, say, Bono. Reason being, Trent Reznor is much like alot of the people that cruise Digg. He's technologically aware, and has been in the game for 20 years using the latest and greatest audio formats/equipment. So what if he uses the same tools that we use to get our music? He may have millions upon millions, but this article just goes to show that some artists do actually have half a brain.
  • ekin09, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1It might be a surprise to some people but I am assuming a lot of others download music, movies, games they already went to the store and bought at some point in their life. Old Nintendo games for example, or old VHS, even BETA...
    I move around a lot ... or so it seems, and I don't always carry around *ALL* my games, DVDs/CDs that I have bought over the years. Being able to grab them off a torrent site anytime, is amazingly convenient.
  • Fryth, on 11/02/2007, -0/+3I don't understand how he says he had an OiNK account, but then admits it's not necessarily morally correct. How can something be morally incorrect, and yet he and his peers have no problem with it? That doesn't make sense to me. Are we all hypocrites or is this really OK?
  • Phantomstar, on 11/01/2007, -0/+2Yay!
  • tamara9in, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1dcharti: Trent's fortunate because he gets to say this stuff and rally support from his fans against the very industry that gave him his start and all the money to get where he is today.
    DO SOME RESEARCH: TR basically gave himself a "start". The place he worked as a janitor probably payed [payed in time he used to teach himself the trade] for more of his "start up" than anyone else. He had this vision from the beginning and has been taking steps to get to this point since then. He has always been viewed as a bit ornery for this uncompromising attitude. Unfortunately some other "bands" mutilated the idea of free art before he could see the vision come to past [but only by a few days....hmmm]. TR has already stepped up the game by introducing Saul Williams http://niggytardust.com/ But I agree with the unanswered "who will pay the ***** bands to kick off their hot 9 at 9 tour"...questions. They swarm through my brain, endlessly. oh yeah, just say Trent Reznor in the title next time...remember Trent Reznor IS Nine Inch Nails, silly!!
  • thailand1972, on 11/02/2007, -3/+2NIN wouldn't be playing big concerts if it weren't for the publicity created by their label and the money needed to do this. If NIN were never on a label, they'd never have been famous and never had the chance to play at the big concerts. If you kill off labels, you don't allow new talent to get a decent platform from which to generate publicity and therefore future concert sales.

    A lot of people on Digg first assume that a band is famous, therefore concert sales are the big earner. How do you get famous in the first place? Where is your money? Where are your connections? It's not a case of just uploading your mp3s to the internet and hoping for the best. You need money and people to promote you. How can you do this if you don't have money? Can someone here give a viable alternative to labels? Or should the future of music be simply word of mouth with a wider dispersion of fans over a larger number of bands (therefore each band don't make too much, and play in small venues).

    Personally I actually like this model without labels, because I think it would mean cheaper concert tickets at smaller venues with bands just happy to make a living from what they love doing - it's more balanced than now where you have inflated concert prices because publicity has created more demand than supply, and with a lot of money comes a lot of naff commercialism.
  • LeighWade1001, on 11/01/2007, -0/+0Hey you wouldn't believe he would come out and say that. I wonder what will take over from oink, people will allways want free music.
  • rezzy333, on 11/01/2007, -0/+1just finished listening to saul's album. Quite awesome. Great lyrics, awesome production. Check it out people.
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