breathe us in slowly

There's been something of an uproar created by Trent Reznor's recent post on nin.com in which he slams his record label for ripping off his fans:

Posted on [05_13_2007]

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.

This outburst has since been reported by a number of different news sites, including a decent article from Rolling Stone. He's also recently stated that he only has one or two more albums left on his current contract before it is fulfilled that will leave him free to do all kinds of things that his label is too short-sighted to do (live soundboard recordings of each live show on a tour being on possible example). I think it's fantastic to see him taking on the current climate of stupidity that surrounds record labels. He's absolute right about "self-inflicted" wounds, as the RIAA's strategy of aggressive lawsuits has done nothing but alienate consumers as sales continue to fall. Of course, the large number of absolutely horrible bands out now probably has something to do with that.