Not content to sit back and mentally count the windfall from the first-week sales of his self-released opus Ghosts I-IV, Trent Reznor now has some words for Thom, Johnny, the bald one I always identified with, and the other two; since Trent’s venture into online retail was so successful and offered higher-quality audio downloads (as well as CDs and various special editions), he feels Radiohead may have rushed the downloadable In Rainbows to market in order to look cool for all us media types, rather than because they were honestly trying to push the Web-age sales model forward.
“I think the way [Radiohead] parlayed it into a marketing gimmick has certainly been shrewd,” Reznor said when speaking to Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Michael Atkin. “But if you look at what they did, though, it was very much a bait and switch to get you to pay for a MySpace-quality stream as a way to promote a very traditional record sale…”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Reznor continued, “but I don’t see that as a big revolution [that] they’re kinda getting credit for.” In addition to the quality of Radiohead’s MP3s, NIN’s frontman also took issue with the band’s omission of artwork and altogether not taking care of the fans. “To me that feels insincere. It relies upon the fact that it was quote-unquote ‘first,’ and it takes the headlines with it.”
I thought there might have also been the intention to, you know, release a great album driving Radiohead’s decision, but maybe I’m just being nostalgic for listening to records rather than artists yapping to any media outlet that will have them about their own biz-related ingenuity in the face of a dying monolithic blah blah blah. (I know, I know…I’m not allowed to say anything mean about Trent. Sorry. I really do like Pretty Hate Machine a lot!)
Reznor: Radiohead Offering Was Insincere, Industry Is Inept [Ars Technica]
Dude, word. A low-quality download of the best RH album since Kid A beats a pristine, nicely annotated download of Trent’s odds-and-sods any day.
Not a NIN fan (or Radiohead either, for that matter) but dude has a point. 160kbp files is pretty weak. If I was a Radiohead fan and had laid down cash for that, I’d be kind of cheesed.
Glad to see ‘ol Trent is still in the 3rd grade. The only way you could get me to listn to his ‘opus’ would be downloading it for free so…
I am also a fan of artists offering you the opportunity to pay for the same item several times in order to show some form of gratitude.
i paid $5 for the contents of trent reznor’s “unfinished” folder and $80 for “in rainbows” on CD and vinyl with BIG ASS artwork and a bonus disk – guess which one actually gave me the buyer’s remorse?
Okay, artist have to be c-(wait)…. I listened to the actual interview as I typed this post. I then erased my original words, and have this to say. Trent Reznor is a dick.
I just don’t see any problem with the 160kpb files == you could put down as much money as you thought they were worth. So what’s the problem?
I can’t stand Trent whining in his songs, now I’ve got to listen to this?
“I just don’t see any problem with the 160kpb files == you could put down as much money as you thought they were worth. So what’s the problem?”
The problem was not knowing when you put your money down that you were only getting 160kbps files. Radiohead didn’t provide any information about the encoding before the album went on sale.
160kbp >>> Myspace streaming
Radiohead >>>> NIN
and besides, Radiohead (IIRC) have repeatedly said that what they did was not intended to be any kind of model for other artists to use or rely on, it was an attempt at a timely solution for THEM, not a suggestion for EVERYONE.
A post that once again encourages me to conclude that Radiohead fans are the most delusional on the planet.
Ghosts I-IV is a long navel-gazing wank. Spend your time with Radiohead instead.