In various corners of teh Interwebz and elsewhere, I've been pretty vocal about my disgust about the state of the music industry and today's popular music. The sheer volume of mass-produced, instantly-disposable attempts at music has made buying the CD all but irrelevant and actually gives people an excuse to go out and steal music. While I am strongly in favour of protecting intellectual property rights, it is asking an awful lot of folks these days to spend their hard-earned dollars for a CD that has one or two songs that are remotely "good." That's likely the reason that I've only bought 5 or 6 CDs since moving to Halifax; iTunes has helped me to get the "hits" while avoiding the many, many misses, but the sheer volume of piracy out there is costing the business billions of dollars and thus they're flooding the market in the hopes that enough quantity exists to offset the losses and hide the otherwise-obvious drop in quality.
It is in that vein that I am very glad to see someone like Trent Reznor speaking unabashedly on his website about his own disdain for the business that distributes his art. The Nine Inch Nails mastermind is down in Australia touring right now, and had this to say on his most recent blog post:
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 are planning a full-length remix collection of substance that will be announced soon.
It was announced this morning that Capital G (an awesome song that goes after my favourite living POTUS) is going to be released as a vinyl single in Europe, but it will NOT contain the Halo designation found on all other NIN releases because Reznor wants nothing to do with it. It's purely a record company-driven release, and not representative of what TR wants to have done with the single. Between the song leaks, flash drives, and unique marketing campaign behind the Year Zero concept album, he's already taken a lot of heat from the industry execs, and no doubt this will further fan the flames. I'm looking forward to the real Halo 25 much more than the announced details for the record company's version of Capital G--no doubt their intentions were much the same as what they did with Survivalism: a two-track, a four-track that includes the same B-side, and a vinyl. The record company's cognizance and manipulation of NIN fans' demand was a major piss-off for a lot of fans, myself included, and I am glad that Reznor is aware of this and won't allow his fans to be put through that again.
Showing posts with label NIN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NIN. Show all posts
13 May 2007
05 April 2007
Happy April!
It only took me 5 days!
It's been a bit of a hectic week for me, and I've been spending most of my non-working time either watching the Habs or listening to Year Zero. If you haven't checked out anything from the lastest NIN album, now's the time. Great stuff.
The rest of the world hasn't really had a lot going on that's really inspired me to post. It's been a relatively uneventful week in Canadian politics, though Harper has fulfilled his election pledge to create a wait times guarantee on some aspects of our beloved public health care system (which is a Canadian value, despite the protestations of a former Dal colleaue). Good on him for that; hopefully it will continue to evolve and more aspects will fall under that umbrella in due time.
I just finished reading Alan Dershowitz's The Case for Israel, which is really a very good book and should be read by anybody that pays any attention to the Arab-Israeli conflict. He doesn't trash the Palestinians, he's not a "Greater Israel" propagandist, he simply lays out an argument in favour of Israel's continued existence as a viable democracy and urges people to stop with the double standard that is so often applied to the Jewish state. He is very critical--and rightly so--of Arafat's tactics and ploys, but also critical of certain Israeli policies, in his analysis of devising a way forward that results in a two-state solution, something which is agreed upon by almost all the important parties in the dispute--with the exception of numerous elements in the Palestinian government and other Arab regimes.
The book also makes very relevant points that apply to last summer's conflict involving Hezbollah, and makes clear the distinction between a democratic state that "fights with one hand behind its back" to ensure the safety of enemy civilians and a terrorist organization that benefits greatly both from accidental civilian deaths and the deliberate murders of their intended targets. Yet somehow, Israel is often portrayed as the bad guy. Two nights ago, there was a public forum here in Halifax that had all the indicators of being a decidedly anti-Israel propganda display: pictures of a bombed-out building with a small (presumably now-homeless) child in front of it, being sponsored by a website called "Free Palestine," and probably a couple other little details that simply elude me right now. I didn't bother, as it was on a Tuesday and the Habs were playing Boston...and I have little time for such drivel. Yeah, I know, pre-judging isn't good, but all the signs were there that I would have left after 5 minutes anyways.
It's going to be an interesting weekend. Easter & birthday on Sunday, final game of the regular season on Saturday, Halifax shutting down tomorrow and Sunday because of the holiday. Hope that everybody has fun, and make sure to go listen to this: Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero.
It's been a bit of a hectic week for me, and I've been spending most of my non-working time either watching the Habs or listening to Year Zero. If you haven't checked out anything from the lastest NIN album, now's the time. Great stuff.
The rest of the world hasn't really had a lot going on that's really inspired me to post. It's been a relatively uneventful week in Canadian politics, though Harper has fulfilled his election pledge to create a wait times guarantee on some aspects of our beloved public health care system (which is a Canadian value, despite the protestations of a former Dal colleaue). Good on him for that; hopefully it will continue to evolve and more aspects will fall under that umbrella in due time.
I just finished reading Alan Dershowitz's The Case for Israel, which is really a very good book and should be read by anybody that pays any attention to the Arab-Israeli conflict. He doesn't trash the Palestinians, he's not a "Greater Israel" propagandist, he simply lays out an argument in favour of Israel's continued existence as a viable democracy and urges people to stop with the double standard that is so often applied to the Jewish state. He is very critical--and rightly so--of Arafat's tactics and ploys, but also critical of certain Israeli policies, in his analysis of devising a way forward that results in a two-state solution, something which is agreed upon by almost all the important parties in the dispute--with the exception of numerous elements in the Palestinian government and other Arab regimes.
The book also makes very relevant points that apply to last summer's conflict involving Hezbollah, and makes clear the distinction between a democratic state that "fights with one hand behind its back" to ensure the safety of enemy civilians and a terrorist organization that benefits greatly both from accidental civilian deaths and the deliberate murders of their intended targets. Yet somehow, Israel is often portrayed as the bad guy. Two nights ago, there was a public forum here in Halifax that had all the indicators of being a decidedly anti-Israel propganda display: pictures of a bombed-out building with a small (presumably now-homeless) child in front of it, being sponsored by a website called "Free Palestine," and probably a couple other little details that simply elude me right now. I didn't bother, as it was on a Tuesday and the Habs were playing Boston...and I have little time for such drivel. Yeah, I know, pre-judging isn't good, but all the signs were there that I would have left after 5 minutes anyways.
It's going to be an interesting weekend. Easter & birthday on Sunday, final game of the regular season on Saturday, Halifax shutting down tomorrow and Sunday because of the holiday. Hope that everybody has fun, and make sure to go listen to this: Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero.
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