Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails, How To Destroy Angels) and his manager Jim Guerinot have opened up on Reznor‘s return to the majors (How To Destroy Angels recently aligned themselves with Columbia Records) via a chat with Techdirt.com. The pair also shared some insight behind the current state of the music industry, with some highlights available below:
Guerinot was quick to point out that the new partnership with Columbia Records is actually a “licensing agreement”, stating:
“It’s a licensing arrangement. The deal that Trent is able to do at this stage of the game is different than what he would have been able to do at 19 years old coming into his first arrangement…. There are always different levels of accommodation and leverage that you’re able to do. For Trent, fortunately, at this stage of the game, he’s able to license it and continue to own his masters… and, really, that’s the most relevant thing about the deal.”
Reznor himself further elaborated on the decision:
“The main reason I do what I do is I want to do something that matters. I want to be able to create art that reaches the maximum amount of people on my terms…. That was a key component… That was why we wound up considering, and ultimately going with, a label, and not just a label, but a major label, for How to Destroy Angels.
Because it came down to us — us being the band now — sitting around and identifying what our goals were. And the top priority wasn’t to make money. It was to try to reach the most amount of people, and try to reach the most amount of people effectively, that doesn’t feel like it’s coming completely from my backyard. Because I don’t want this project, ultimately, to just be dismissed as “side project” or… (*loud sigh*) “patronizing affair with Trent and his wife.” Sounds terrible, you know?”
On the current state of the industry and artists trying to get their foot in the door:
“What I think is great right now, is that it is the wild west. As frustrating and worrisome as it can feel to hear that we’re ‘in-between business models’ — which we’ve been hearing for at least ten years now. So, okay, all the old rules go out the window, let’s press reset, let’s look at what assets we have now that one didn’t have before. That’s what the good news is. This is what David Byrne focuses on his book. The stranglehold of distribution, the cost of making records, all of that has changed….
My advice today, to established acts and new-coming acts, is the same advice I’d give to myself: pause for a minute, and really think about ‘what is your goal? where do you see yourself?’ When I was coming up, things weren’t disrupted, and there was a logical progression…. As a 22-year-old kid in Cleveland, it seemed to me that just playing out in bars, hoping someone noticed your band, and then offered you a record contract, while that’s possible, I didn’t know anybody, and didn’t know anybody who knew anybody that that had ever happened to.
The strategy, then, was let’s work on getting a band, and something that means something, music that matters, music that I feel proud of, and a vibe and name and ‘brand’ of this thing, and then try to reach maybe some small labels that had music in the same vein of what I liked. It didn’t work exactly that way, but that type of archetype of a plan led me to focus my energies on the thing that did start, and that fuse got lit, and it wound up happening.
If I were that person today, there’s a hell of a lot of things that didn’t exist then, that exist now. Like, YouTube. Like the ability to self-publish. Like the ability to reach everyone in the world from your bedroom, if they’re interested. And I’d focus my efforts on what seems like a logical way to do that, that maintains integrity. If my goal is to compete with Rihanna on the pop charts, I’d think that requires going through a major label system with a powerful manager. That game….
It all comes down to what is it that you want to do? I think indie self-publishing and do it yourself is great. I will certainly do it again. But it will be in the context of what I feel is right for me.”
You can read the full article at Techdirt.com. How To Destroy Angels will release “An Omen EP” on November 13th with a new full-length offering to follow it in the new year.
