Is Trent Reznor the Future of Music?
I’ve often argued in private that the distribution model employed by Trent Reznor, who has helmed Nine Inch Nails since the late 80s, is paving the way for future of the music industry. But rather than make the argument at length, I’ll defer to Mike Masnick, the genius behind TechDirt.
I find all of this fairly convincing, but it’s not a knockout case. For one thing, despite Masnick’s claim that smaller artists can make use of the CwF formula too, they’re unlikely to come even close to NIN’s returns without pre-existing access to a Reznor-size fanbase. Reznor, I think, is something of a special case in the music world. As both a mainstream star and a genuine artist, he’s uniquely appealing, and he’s had twenty years or so to build that appeal into a large cult following. Moreover, for much of that time, he had the backing of a big label. Masnick is right that Reznor’s being incredibly innovative, but Reznor’s aided by the strong position from which he started — and the major-label cash that got him there.
On a lesser note, I was also not particularly moved by Masnick’s notion that Reznor’s lavishly produced stage shows make him some sort of standout: Expensive stage shows with lights and video are fairly common amongst artists of Reznor’s sales-caliber. It would be a surprise if Reznor didn’t put on an elaborate production.
Still, there’s a lot to like in Reznor’s obsessive focus on cultivating fan interest. The fact that he’s even managed to pull it off without the aid of a label is even more promising. Here’s hoping for a future in which all music is free — and business is booming anyway.
UPDATE: One person who is not the future of music, despite the occasional suggestions by the New York Times Magazine and others that he might be, is Rick Rubin. Rick Rubin, in fact, is only the future of Rick Rubinism, which, while similar, is an altogether different thing than music.
UPDATE 2: Masnick responds in the comments. I agree that the success of unknowns like Jonathan Coulton, who claims to make about $60,000 a year as a pop singer selling his music on the web, suggests that there are financial opportunities for smaller acts. Still, I suspect that the opportunities to achieve even a middle-class income are fairly few right now, and I think that any look at Reznor’s success shouldn’t underplay the substantial value of his prior fame and years of label backing. That said, I largely agree with Masnick that, questions about its universality aside, Reznor’s model probably represents the best hope for the future of the music biz so far.
“Remember how people told us that the Internet would completely disintermediate everything, and it would be a direct artist-to-consumer paradise? They lied.” — from “Against Search” by Christophe Pettus
— Tony Comstock · Feb 11, 01:03 PM · #
Also, before you utter another word of speculation about alternative distribution, you should watch “The Endless Summer Revisited”.
— Tony Comstock · Feb 11, 01:11 PM · #
Hmmm, I’m not sure you can make the 100% argument that labels put Reznor in the position to succeed w/ this model. Both TVT and Interscope in later years did very little to help Reznor. In the case of TVT you could say that he succeeded in spite of them. Interscope stopped supporting NIN after the Fragile didn’t pull in Britney like numbers. New artists can use this model. The days of some coke sniffing A&R guy coming around and making your dreams come true are over. It’s back to cultivating a local following and building on it. The web distribution model allows them to do this much more effectively than the old days.
— Max Thrax · Feb 11, 08:57 PM · #
Hi. Thanks for the link and sharing your thoughts!
Just wanted to respond a bit to the “big artist” / “small artist” question. First of all, I was asked to just present on Reznor, so I couldn’t really get into details of small artists making this work as well, but it was the small artists like Maria Schneider, Corey Smith and Jonathan Coulton who actually figured out this basic model first.
Also, I think it’s a bit of false equivalence to suggest that the small artists need to get the same returns here ($1.6 million in one week). But, look at Corey Smith. He was a weekend musician, who turned connecting into fans with free music into bringing in $4 million (gross) last year:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090120/1942463468.shtml
But, the point shouldn’t be about how many millions an artist can make. It should be about can they make a living doing this — and we’ve seen so many musicians discover that by embracing these models they can make a very good living — often better than their alternatives, that I think it’s a bit misleading to complain that they won’t make $1.6 million in a week. :)
— Mike Masnick · Feb 11, 09:06 PM · #
Not too long ago I read someone comparing movies place inside the movie business to the bubbly brown liquid inside a bottle of Coca Coca — an essential, but financially trivial element.
Sounds like Mr. Reznor has done the same thing with recordings of his music, and then built his own bottling plant.
— Tony Comstock · Feb 11, 10:23 PM · #
“Still, I suspect that the opportunities to achieve even a middle-class income are fairly few right now, “
I see you didn’t take the very valuable advice in the post made at 8:11AM this morning. Your loss.
— Tony Comstock · Feb 12, 01:02 AM · #
I think the disappointing sales of Reznor’s collaboration with Saul Williams, relative to Reznor’s own work with NIN, also provides a bit of a reality check. Particularly since I think it was actually better. Then again, a lot fewer options were provided for NiggyTardust than for Ghosts – I don’t actually recall there even being a hard-copy release until later.
— Joseph F. · Feb 12, 04:36 PM · #
It’s also worth considering the dog that Mr. Masnick has in this fight. The percentage play for him is to offer that Reznor’s approach has generated fantastic returns, and he and his Floor64 fellows have special insight and expertise in the manner and methods Reznor has employed, and that Floor64 will gladly help your company (which in all likelihood sells something considerably less interesting and significantly more commodifiable than Reznor’s music) use the same methods to CwF and give them a RtB; for a modest fee of course.
I don’t in any way mean to suggest that Mr. Masnick isn’t offering something of value. But there’s nothing new about CwF + RtB = $$$$; in the music business in business in general. Jimmy Buffet, TGD, Apple, VW, and my personal entertain business hero Bruce Brown all used this basic approach to achieve success; find teh people who want what you make, keep making things they want; make sure they can’t get what you’re selling them from anyone else.
— Tony Comstock · Feb 12, 05:29 PM · #
I think one of the most important things to note about what Reznor is doing is that, although it may not be a completely “revolutionary” business model, he is giving away his music for free and still making money. He’s taken the “us vs. them” model that the RIAA (and Metallica) established and destroyed it using connection and loyalty. He’s creatively bridged the gap between himself and his fans and shown them that, truly, “we’re in this together.” A very encouraging situation for musicians and fans alike.
— conor · Feb 13, 08:42 AM · #
Isn’t Marillion doing something similar to Trent Reznor?
— nimh · Feb 14, 03:27 AM · #