The Music Tank

Still strong financially (if not stronger) from his recent "Ghosts I-IV" release, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor discussed the current state of modern music distribution in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Michael Atkin.

In the interview, Reznor questions Radiohead's approach for the distribution of their latest album, "In Rainbows," implying they should have offered higher mp3 quality and include artwork with the release.

"I think the way [Radiohead] parlayed it into a marketing gimmick has certainly been shrewd, but if you look at what they did, though, it was very much a bait and switch to get you to pay for a MySpace-quality stream as a way to promote a very traditional record sale. There's nothing wrong with that, but I don't see that as a big revolution they're kinda getting credit for. To me that feels insincere. It relies upon the fact that it was quote-unquote 'first,' and it takes the headlines with it."

Questioned on whether the industry might be influenced by the success recent releases had on the Internet, Reznor answered :

"The level of ineptitude I've seen at the major labels is stunning. The people in charge of a lot of the digital technologies and the aspects that are decimating their business that I've seen are people that seem to not even be on the Internet."

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