Trent Reznor Tells Fans to Steal Music
Warning: Video Contains Some Explicit Language
Perennial geek idol and gloomy music star Trent Reznor is not making any friends at his record label, Universal Media Group (UMG). At a concert Sunday night in Sydney, Reznor let loose on the music industry. Commenting on the fact that CD prices had not dropped after an outburst in May (see below), he asked, "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 mother****ers will get it through their head that they're ripping people off and that's not right."
Back in May, Reznor commented in an interview with the Herald Sun in Australia on the ridiculous prices of CD's saying, "You got record labels that are doing everything they can to piss people off and rip them off."
He then lashed out at his record label saying, "I've garnered a core audience that you feel it's OK to rip off? F--- you'. That's also why you don't see any label people here, 'cos I said, 'F--- you people. Stay out of my f---ing show. If you wanna come, pay the ticket like anyone else. F--- you guys.' They're thieves. I don't blame people for stealing music if this is the kind of s--- that they pull off."
It's good to see that some musicians understand the dilemma we fans face. Reznor even admits to stealing music: "I steal music too, I'm not gonna say I don't."
From Slashdot and the Herald Sun
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
monicatalavera3 @ Sep 18th 2007 1:09PM
THANX TRENT! let's hear it for a real rocker!
he's sooo right, the music industry ARE/IS greedy
thats why music sucks and people like Pdiddy and britney and coldplay even aerosmith are greedy bastards - its NOT about the music anymore, they are a part of the money hungry conspiracy too. FIGHT THE POWER! steal? no, that gives the -powers fuel to continue raising prices of tickets cd's etc...go to your public library, buy 2nd hand cds/re-sell get some of YOUR money back AND who wants to go to a concert where half the show is a bigbudgetvegaslounge ACT? for 50plus$$...no way...NOT ME.
trent, you rock, stillSTILL thanx for being part of a lonely breed man! you are one of the [very]few ARTISTS i'd actually pay to see live.
Josh @ Oct 19th 2007 12:56AM
More power to the people. I haven't bought a CD in over 15 years. But I remember when I did...$14.99 got me two good songs and a bunch of crappy ones. From what I hear at a cost to make each cd at $.10.
My idea years ago was Best Buy and these other big wigs should allow people to make their own cd's right in the store. 12-16 songs of my choice, hell yeah I'd pay $10 or so.
Why would I pay $10 for something I can burn for free? Cause half the time the music you "steal" isn't the full version, it's an edited version, or it's not as good as the real thing.
So for all you big wig electronic mogules...Think about it...
Danielle M. @ Dec 11th 2007 7:32PM
Josh...that idea about burning your own CDs right at the store is ingenious. I can't believe no one's ever thought about doing it before! It would be just like buying them on iTunes (say at .99 a pop) and putting the stuff YOU want to hear on there. I wouldn't be surprised if iTunes doesn't come up with the "make your own CD" feature in the near future. The problem a lot of people face in buying CDs from recording artists is you get 2 or 3 great songs and 10-12 crappy ones and giving PEOPLE, who are ultimately the recording industry's reason for being in the first place, the choice to create their own music and burn it and PAY for it would eliminate a lot of the problem. Well done.
erkskindl @ Dec 12th 2007 4:36AM
The sad fact is that more and more people don't want to pay for music anymore. They undervalue it because it is easy to steal. Blaming the record companies is just wrong. There are so many different record companies. Some are mega huge, and have massive amounts of money available. Some are tiny and just barely scraping by. Some people are really trying to offer quality product, but in the current environment, they are having one hell of a time connecting with people who really care about music and value it and the artists who create it, and are actually willing to pay for it. If your attitude when you look over a vast array of cd's at a shop is that there will be two good songs and the rest will be crap, why bother? How is it that so many people have such a hard time finding a cd that is actually good all the way through? They exist you know. Many cd's. Sometimes it takes some patience and repeated listening. Sometimes it takes real listening, not just having music in the background while your talking or cleaning the house or driving. While it's definitely true that there is a lot of rubbish out there, there is still a lot of interesting and different music to be found. You just have to look. People have it made today. You can go to a site like CD Baby and spend the whole day listening to full samples of every song on an album and choose whatever does it for you. Most sites also include user commentary as well as related music and recommendations to check out. Barnes and Noble enables the customer to listen to any song that is on any album that they sell. Now that is amazing. Many other sellers have listening stations. A site like Amazon offers pre listening and offers a huge selection including easy access to used sellers. I mean, how much better could it be? Add to this the growing number of internet radio sites that allow the listener easy access to the artist and song title for later purchase if you find yourself liking it. The argument that all this is shit because cd's cost a lot is ridiculous. The cost of a cd today is roughly about the same ratio of average income per hour X 2 as it was years ago. You can easily find cd's at a price point of $12 or $13 today. Most are discounted heavy. If you wish to go back to a time when records were $2.98, bear in mind that the average music buyer was probably making $1.65 an hour or so. (This being in the 60's as an example.) So how bad is it? Comparing the manufacturing costs of a cd versus its retail price and getting all pissed off is a little weird. There are a lot of people splitting up that pie before any of it reaches the actual creators. Record companies cannot count on an identical margin off every cd they release. Some do well, but the majority sell somewhere around 5000 copies. That ain't exactly a lot. An overwhelming amount of people in the music business, including small labels are barely making it at that. So lighten up everyone. Music is a great value. Better than a DVD you might watch 5 times at the most in its lifetime. A great cd will be played for years, off and on. The investment in music is a far better investment than beer or going out to an expensive restaurant. No one seems to complain with the same bitterness about those kinds of things. All that is consumed fast and is gone. But not music. It's still there to give you another ride. It has value and it's worth it.