As Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor approaches his 50th birthday (May 17th) next year, the prolific musician is looking forward to slowing down a bit more. He told Billboard.com of his future plans:
“I don’t see any full-fledged rock extravaganza happening maybe ever, certainly not for the next several years. But the idea of putting myself in something that doesn’t feel as comfortable to me — I feel confident I can do that, or until my body falls apart on me. Being onstage alone or with a string quartet, in a theater, it’s not right around the corner, but…”
He later added:
“…I’d like to get it to a place where it’s not a commitment of a year of being away, because I don’t want to miss being a father — being present. I would like to create more, in quicker intervals, rather than make an album, disappear for years, go on tour.”
Reznor also opened up regarding his intent to push himself and his cohorts during the making of the bands latest album “Hesitation Marks“:
“…On the last album, Hesitation Marks, we did something that impressed me. I said, “This same team of people have done the last several albums, we’re comfortable with each other. I know what’s going to happen. Let’s bring in someone else as a producer. And let’s empower them to see what happens.” It meant everyone taking a step back and relinquishing some power. At some point we all went, “This is bullshit. This isn’t leading to a better result. This is just clutter.” It only lasted a couple weeks.”
When asked who the producer was and how it impacted the process, he replied:
“It was Markus Dravs, who has worked with Arcade Fire quite a bit. He’s a song-based guy that’s less a studio rat, engineer-type like we are. I don’t want to throw him under the bus. I’m not here to talk shit about him. But there was a lot of “Let’s get an ensemble of people to play this thing,” and “We need an arranger to do that.” It didn’t feel like it was leading anywhere. I respect the guy and it didn’t end in a fistfight or anything. He was a means to an end to make us realize that our instincts about the record were the right way to go. The record that was finished, I’m very proud of. It felt like a reinvention to me”
A long proponent of technology and its impact on music, Reznor himself remains unsure on where the industry is headed:
“I am on the side of streaming music, and I think the right streaming service could solve everybody’s problems. Ownership is waning. Everybody is comfortable with the cloud — your documents, who knows where they are? They are there when you need them. That idea that I’ve got my records on the shelf doesn’t feel as important even to me as it used to. I just think we haven’t quite hit the right formula yet.”
Reznor‘s role as Chief Creative Officer of the Beats Music streaming service does look to have evolved however. That company was recently purchased by Apple and is oft-rumored to eventually be folded into the latter. If this does indeed happen, Reznor needn’t be worried about his future position. As it turns out he’s already working with Apple on some new things, of which he shared the following guarded words:
“…Beats was bought by Apple, and they expressed direct interest in me designing some products with them. I can’t go into details, but I feel like I’m in a unique position where I could be of benefit to them. That does mean some compromises in terms of how much brain power goes toward music and creating. This is very creative work that’s not directly making music, but it’s around music.”
Asked if it was in relation to streaming music he replied:
“It’s in that world. It’s exciting to me, and I think it could have a big enough impact that it’s worth the effort. I’m fully in it right now, and it’s challenging, and it’s unfamiliar and it’s kind of everything I asked for — and the bad thing is it’s everything I asked for.”
Given his own experiences with giving away music for free, Reznor also weighed in on U2‘s marketing move which saw millions of listeners saddled with the bands new album “Songs Of Innocence“—many of them unwillingly:
“As an artist, when I make a piece of music, I’d like you to know it’s out there. I don’t want to force it down your throat, but I would like you to know that if you’d like to, you might brush against it — it exists somewhere. So I can see the incentive behind what they wanted to do. I was with Bono that day. I was at the Apple event and we were hanging out after they did it. There’s an immense sense of pride toward the album he just spent several years making. He was very proud of what he did.
I think the misstep was the wording: If it would’ve been, “Here it is, if you want it, come grab it…” I am assuming the momentum of that situation led to the oversight in not thinking that people might feel intruded upon.”
When asked if putting no price on an album devalues music he went on to state:
“It’s something I spent a lot of time thinking about. I think that paying for music is a relic of an era gone by — and I’m saying that as somebody who hopes you pay for music. I’ve spent my life trying to make this thing that now everyone thinks should be free. U2, there [was] an incentive to get in front of as many eyes as possible. I can see what was appealing to them about that, and they’re getting paid for it. There’s the argument of, “Did that help further devalue music?” Yes, I think it did.
When you put your music on, or allow your music to be on, YouTube, which is free, is that [devaluing music]? There’s a whole generation of kids that listen to music on YouTube, and they’ll suffer through that ad if there is one. They’re not going to pay a dollar for that song — why would you? It’s a complex problem.”
For the full read, including Reznor‘s thoughts on the bands potential induction into the ‘Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame‘ next year, head over to Billboard.com.
