Trent Reznor Was A "Onik" User

I never got the chance to really check out the site "Onik" before it was taken down, but it sounds like there were quite a few people who liked it. Not just for the obvious reasons for free music, but many people liked the feel of the site and how it had high bit-rate music. Trent Reznor from "Nine inch Nails" was just one of those users who is disappointed to see it gone.

In an interview in New York Magazine, Reznor said that Onik was “world’s greatest record store” because of its content and quality. Said 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.”

It's interesting that someone who is accomplished in the music industry would feel this way about a site that according to the record industry stops just short of terrorism. I would like to see this site come back in some form, perhapses with a monthly fee for all the music you can download. Having high bit-rate music would be good for all users, not matter where it comes from.

Trent Reznor and Saul Williams Discuss Their New Collaboration, Mourn OiNK [NY Mag via Crunchgear]

Nine Inch Nails Dumps Record Labels, Going Direct to Fans

I thought this was an interesting article from Gizmodo:

"Hear that? It's the RIAA quaking in their diamond-coated boots as yet another A-list band gives labels the finger: Pretty hate machine Trent Reznor announced today that "as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label." Instead of futzing through the hapless middleman of an inept label, Trent's promising "a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate," so we can expect more experiments in direct distribution and promotion, probably culminating in an album release not unlike Radiohead's In Rainbows.

If two of the biggest acts in the industry can see the digital writing on the wall and totally embrace it—that the old way of doing business is broken—why can't the labels? What Radiohead and NIN are showing is that the business model "of the future" feared by entrenched interests isn't arriving some time in the horizon. It's touching down now. [NIN, Flickr]"

I truly hope that this is the start of something new and better.

Trent Reznor: Steal My Album!!!

Talk about being pissed off at a record company.

Head man Trent Reznor of 'Nine Inch Nails' states that high prices of CD's are hurting his bands sales. And he thinks that his record label 'Universal' isn't doing anything about it either! So Trent has decided to take a different approach. Check the quote that Trent recently posted on theninhotline.com:

"Last time I was here, I was doing a lot of complaining about the ridiculous prices of CDs down here, And that story got picked up and got carried all around the world and now my record label all around the world hates me, because I yelled at them, I called them out for being greedy f**king a**holes. I didn't get a chance to check, has the price come down at all? I see a no, a no, a no... Has anyone seen the price come down? Okay, well, you know what that means - STEAL IT. Steal away. Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin'. Because one way or another these m*therf**kers will get it through their head that they're ripping people off and that that's not right."

Uh....Wow!!!

[NIN says: “Copy our music because CDs are too expensive” via G4TV]