Trent Reznor, leader and founder of Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame-inducted industrial metal legends Nine Inch Nails, has long been a critic of the current state of the music industry. Having begun his rise to prominence in the late 80s, before exploding on the scene with multi-platinum success throughout the 90s, Reznor got to experience the highs and lows of what many view as the last era of the music industry at the height of its power.
The proliferation of access to the internet amid the mid to late 90s onward gave way to widespread musical piracy, forcing the tenaciously stubborn industry to implement radical changes to its business model.
While said piracy was in part a reaction against price fixing scandals engaged in by major labels, not too mention decades of hit singles buoying albums rife with creatively bankrupt filler, the impact on the bottom line was still a near fatal blow for artists and labels alike.
Faced with no choice but to adapt, the industry rapidly contracted as labels either merged or went under, all while brick and mortar chains of music retail outlets collapsed as digital downloads and streaming took over the market share.
Throughout it all, it was the artists that suffered the most, watching their budgets diminish even further, while also receiving even less of a share of the profits from their recorded works. Faced with the digital era and the growing pains that it brought, Reznor was among those proactive in attempting to chart the course for a more artist and user-friendly incarnation of digital service providers.
To that end he served as the Chief Creative Officer for Beats Music, a music streaming service which was ultimately absorbed into what we now know as Apple Music. While Reznor had attempted to introduce more artist-oriented curation and other idealistic values into digital streaming, that foray eventually ran its course, and it wasn’t without personal and political challenges for Reznor.
These days, the internet and social media have repaved the attention span of the masses and the consumption habits of music culture as a whole. Whereas artists in the past would hinge their success on a hit single, music video, or album, or even building up their profile across relentless touring, tastes have since largely shifted to faceless playlists and viral moments.
Sure it creates a fertile environment for immediate breakout success, but it has also been a double-edged sword. A song soundtracking a viral TikTok video can instantly catapult a band to the top of the charts, but in a way, has also further chipped away at fan investment in music as a whole.
Rather than devoting themselves to an artist in some form of long-term cultlike fandom, a significant portion of listeners simply only hear what the algorithms or playlist gatekeepers dictate to them, effectively relegating music to the background.
Reznor has himself found that seemingly devalued role of music in the daily lives of people disheartening. It’s that disappointment that has also contributed to the drought of new music from Nine Inch Nails, as he and his NIN bandmate Atticus Ross have instead pursued their passions in composing and scoring film and TV.
In 2023, Reznor told acclaimed producer Rick Rubin his thoughts on the state of music and how it is consumed, offering:
“In the context of Nine Inch Nails, in terms of an audience and the culture, the importance of music — or lack of importance of music — in today’s world, from my perspective, is a little defeating. It feels to me, in general — and I’m saying this as a 57-year-old man — music used to be the thing that, that was what I was doing when I had time. I was listening to music. I wasn’t doing it in the background while I was doing five other things, and I wasn’t treating it kind of as a disposable commodity.”
He went on to say:
“I kind of miss the attention music got, I miss the critical attention that music got. Not that I am interested in the critic’s opinion, but to send something out in the world and feel like it touched places, might’ve got a negative or positive [review], but somebody heard it, it got validated in its own way culturally.
Culturally, that feels askew. Like I can’t think of any review I care about today that I even trust. I could write it before it comes out because it’s already written. In fact, ChatGPT could probably do a better job, you know? Or is currently doing the job.
That makes for what I feel is a less fertile environment to put music out into — in the world of Nine Inch Nails.”
In a newly conducted interview with IndieWire, Reznor, now over a year removed from his aforementioned comments to Rubin, indicated that his views remain relatively unchanged. He stated:
“What we’re looking for [from film] is the collaborative experience with interesting people. We haven’t gotten that from the music world necessarily, for our own choice. You mentioned disillusionment with the music world? Yes. The culture of the music world sucks.
That’s another conversation, but what technology has done to disrupt the music business in terms of not only how people listen to music but the value they place on it is defeating. I’m not saying that as an old man yelling at clouds, but as a music lover who grew up where music was the main thing. Music [now] feels largely relegated to something that happens in the background or while you’re doing something else. That’s a long, bitter story.”
Later in that same discussion, Reznor was asked if the band’s 1997 home video release “Closure” would ever make its way out into the world again officially, after past attempts to reissue it on modern formats were shelved (some bonus footage was officially shared back in 2013.) He stated:
“I’m trying to think what I’m able to say right now. We are doing some things with Interscope again. There’s a renewed interest in making sure the back catalog is being curated and maintained properly. I’ll bring that up as — I haven’t been paying close attention to what the status of those things are because this is a relatively new development. But that’s a good thing to mention because I would like to have that in some consumable fashion, whether it be streamable or something.”
Long-suffering Nine Inch Nails fans do have something to look forward to relatively soon however, as Reznor & Ross have signed on to score the upcoming film ‘Tron: Ares‘ under their Nine Inch Nails banner. Reznor even recently spoke of his renewed passion for Nine Inch Nails.
Outside of that, he and Ross also have numerous scoring projects lining up, including their next collaboration with director Luca Guadagnino, ‘After The Hunt‘.
