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Trent Reznor: Why won't people pay $5?
News.com ^ | 1/10/2008 | Greg Sandoval

Posted on 01/10/2008 9:45:18 AM PST by Red in Blue PA

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To: Antoninus

I know a number of artists on national record labels (Warner-Reprise, YepRock, and others) who stream their full albums online. Here are some you can listen to crime free FROM the source.

NONE of these artists got “praised” in the press for offering their albums online for “free”

If you like what you hear, you can buy these albums on vinyl or CD. I think YepRock is even giving free digital download with LP purchase.

The Fleshtones - Take A Good Look (Yep Roc)
http://216.69.135.140/MP3Players/Fleshtones/TakeAGoodLook/Wimpy.html

http://www.yeproc.com/artist_info.php?artistId=232

The Knitters (members of X and the Blasters country band) - The Modern Sounds Of... (in checking, this is just playing excerpts)
http://www.theknitters.net/player/6741/playlist.php

http://www.theknitters.net/

It isn’t a rare concept.


41 posted on 01/10/2008 10:20:34 AM PST by weegee (Those who surrender personal liberty to lower global temperatures will receive neither.)
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To: Spktyr

The founder of Atlantic Records thought that Kid Rock was an “amazing” talent too. Some people don’t get out much.

Johnny may have been appreciative of the lyrical content of the songs he was shown. What did he think of Trent’s chorus of “I wanna f*** you from the inside”?


42 posted on 01/10/2008 10:22:16 AM PST by weegee (Those who surrender personal liberty to lower global temperatures will receive neither.)
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To: SoDak

When you go industrial, low-fi is a given.


43 posted on 01/10/2008 10:22:54 AM PST by weegee (Those who surrender personal liberty to lower global temperatures will receive neither.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

how many people knew of this? i’d have paid $5 for it if i had heard about it.
also, he should probably consider, how many people have bought multiple albums of his, paid for concerts, bought an individual album more than once, etc. and figure they’re entitled for a freebie after having paid for so much else.


44 posted on 01/10/2008 10:22:59 AM PST by absolootezer0 (white male christian hetero married gun toting SUV driving motorcycle riding conservative smoker)
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To: Red in Blue PA

There is a difference here. Radiohead offered the lower quality download online, but then offered their #1 selling album *in stores*. Reznor’s mistake might have been offering it for free download, and then using the same marketplace to offer it for sale.

It might be the same as advertising on TV items that you would then buy in stores. Depending on the item, it might sell a lot better in a store than by “call now”. If it was a Ronco product, people would call the phone number. But for other types of products, people just don’t buy them over the phone. This is why only certain kinds of products are sold over the Home Shopping Channel.

And album music might just be one of those things. Customers want to buy their album music in record stores. They want to pick it up and look at it before buying.


45 posted on 01/10/2008 10:25:34 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: absolootezer0

After 15 years, “artists” don’t have the same “bite”. They generally either play it safe or make a radical departure.

After 15 years of being a fan, either you love it and never want to see them change or you ask “why do I need ANOTHER album by...”

The Fleshtones have been around since 1976 and are pretty constitent to what they’ve been doing all along. They predate “new wave” but got pegged there in the early 1980s when they moved to IRS records for a few years. The new album isn’t markedly different than the past 3. This is not derogatory. They have “it”. If you like “it”, go see them live. “It” is great live too. But you aren’t going to start getting rock operas, accoustic ballads, rap tracks, etc. to remain “contemporary”.


46 posted on 01/10/2008 10:27:26 AM PST by weegee (Those who surrender personal liberty to lower global temperatures will receive neither.)
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To: joebuck
Those of us who did cough up a couple of bucks were left high and dry wondering how everything turned out.

Apparently, it didn't.

Maybe he should have had a 'chapter-a-thon', producing the next installment when the donations hit the goal.

It would work both ways, though, it'd have to be enough of a cliffhanger to keep people ponying up.

47 posted on 01/10/2008 10:27:26 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
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To: SoDak
People listening to NIN don’t give two hoots about a difference in sound quality.

I take exception to that. I am a fan of Nine Inch Nails and other industrial metal bands, and I also consider myself an audiophile, to the point of still using McIntosh tube amps.

48 posted on 01/10/2008 10:28:05 AM PST by mnehring
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To: Red in Blue PA

Simple, he made a quality version available for free and charged for a version with slightly higher quality.

If he had made the music available as a free stream, with a $5 download option, he would have sold more copies.


49 posted on 01/10/2008 10:28:28 AM PST by MediaMole
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To: absolootezer0

So to conclude the thought and return to your post, a consumer who is familiar with a performer who has been around awhile may want to listen to the new album before buying it to see if it is something that would appeal to them.

And some artists DO make different albums. Foetus/Jim Thirwell is the obvious model for Trent Reznor. Foetus has a number of different names he records under and all sorts of diverse musical projects that he works on. This is the other side. The artist you sometimes like may be so experimental or varied in his approach that you may not want to gamble $15 on name alone.


50 posted on 01/10/2008 10:30:28 AM PST by weegee (Those who surrender personal liberty to lower global temperatures will receive neither.)
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To: weegee

“Alice Cooper IS a conservative Republican who plays golf and lives clean.”

So was Johnny Ramone. RIP.


51 posted on 01/10/2008 10:32:04 AM PST by trublu
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To: Red in Blue PA
"I think if there was an ISP tax of some sort, we can say to the consumer, 'All music is now available and able to be downloaded and put in your car and put in your iPod and put up your a-- if you want and it's $5 on your cable bill.'" --Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails

This is called Information Socialism. I'll pass.

But if you sell an album in good mp3 or another lossless format without the DRM? I am THERE.

52 posted on 01/10/2008 10:32:14 AM PST by Centurion2000 (It's only arrogance if you can't back it up.)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

Didn’t Radiohead get blowback from the online fans who paid (whatever they wanted) for the digital download only to feel suckered that the quality was lacking and they felt the need to “buy it again” at the stores?


53 posted on 01/10/2008 10:32:26 AM PST by weegee (Those who surrender personal liberty to lower global temperatures will receive neither.)
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To: najida
what could I put up on the web and charge $5 a pop for?

do you really want me to answer that?

< leer >

;'}

54 posted on 01/10/2008 10:33:32 AM PST by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: weegee

i dunno, some people continually evolve. the industrial that i was listening to in the goth club last week is dramatically different from what NIN, bauhous and ministry were doing 10-15 years ago, but it’s still enjoyable.
the new NIN cd that came out recently i like. sounds very different from what he was doing when i first got pretty hate machine, but its still good stuff.


55 posted on 01/10/2008 10:33:42 AM PST by absolootezer0 (white male christian hetero married gun toting SUV driving motorcycle riding conservative smoker)
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To: weegee

I vaguely remember him being asked that question; I think his response was a grin and shaking his head.

Remember, he was a hellraiser when he was young, so I think he’d appreciate it.


56 posted on 01/10/2008 10:33:59 AM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

NiggyTardust??? Is this some kind of racist thing? Maybe that’s why few wanted to buy it.....


57 posted on 01/10/2008 10:34:00 AM PST by The Eagle Bomb
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To: mnehrling
Canada's labels slam proposed digital "tax" (tax monthly internet fee to split among labels) (Billboard via Reuters Sat Jan 5, 2008)
58 posted on 01/10/2008 10:34:20 AM PST by weegee (Those who surrender personal liberty to lower global temperatures will receive neither.)
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To: Niteranger68

Sorry Trent - communists and socialists don’t believe in private property (read: money) and they don’t believe you should be compensated for your efforts. They are happy to post NIN stickers on their ‘85 Subarus but don’t expect much cash from them.


59 posted on 01/10/2008 10:37:02 AM PST by relictele
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To: absolootezer0

I agree that bands evolve and it would be difficult to “freeze” time and make them sound the same decades apart.

But sometimes the original audience doesn’t change in the same way as the performers. It can lead to a whole new untapped market for the band, but the original fans may drop off. And some will stay along for the whole journey.

Sometimes it is best to see if you still like what a band is doing before blindly gambling the money. I’ve had CD stores open countless CDs over 20 years so that I could preview the album in the store. But I still bought SOMETHING that day. I was just more satisfied with my purchases.


60 posted on 01/10/2008 10:38:35 AM PST by weegee (Those who surrender personal liberty to lower global temperatures will receive neither.)
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