Reznor Urges Musicians To Ditch Labels Message Board and Comments

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If it weren't for the internet's audio samples and video clips I never would have found some of my favourite artists and subsequently gone to see them play live, bought t-shirts at those shows and purchased vinyl, CD copies or MP3s of their songs/albums. All I am wondering is where's the music video store? These devices we have can play video, some can even play video via a TV out (A/V out port).

@JJinBrooklyn > But the rest of us, competing for eyes and ears in the media saturated world, what are we to do? What are you doing now? The labels are still alive and massively influential, record stores and online stores abound, they still own or dominate radio airplay and awards. What's different? I agree they might start to struggle, and might be on the way out - but my point is NOW they still have the power and influence they had for Radiohead and NiN, and YOU still can't get heard. It shows that the difference between you and them is either quality (they might be better) or luck (the record companies happened to run with them rather than you). EITHER WAY you can't do anything about it with the old system - you needed talent and/or the good favour of a record company. Now think of the brave new world if everyone ditches the labels, and the hungry consumer uses free outlets (I love last.fm) to try out new music. True, it's still going to take a bit of luck to be heard, but the cream usually does rise to the top. If you have the talent, you will succeed. If you don't, then why should you? Perhaps radiohead & NiN wouldn't have got super-rich without the labels, but I'm pretty damn sure they would have made a good living, making the music they wanted to, and made their fans very happy. Is that such a bad future?

I fail to see what the music industry really does for artists or consumers. Example: I just tried to buy the 'Cold War Kids' album online. I live in Ireland, so I can't buy from Napster or Amazon. I use Linux so iTunes is not an option - and anyway, installing bloatware so I can download an album is ridiculous. Comparison: I google a few well-chosen words and clicked three times - the album can be mind for free. Alternative: Go into the city and buy the CD. Extra (environmental & financial) cost of packaging, transportation, store markup... but: "Oh, sorry, we don't have that in stock". So tell me, what did the music industry do for the 'Cold War Kids'? Nothing. Last FM introduced me to their music. YouTube showed me their latest video. If the band had a sell-direct website and a PayPal account, I could have paid them directly, and they'd make some money. Actually, not just 'some' money, but almost the whole amount that I paid. As it is, they get nothing until I find a record store that stocks their CD, and even then, they just get a tiny cut. Fair? I think not.

It's always the established, pre-internet artists like Reznor who are saying "ditch the labels". But he, and Radiohead, et al. all used the labels money and power to get recognized above the din of those unsigned masses who are now selling used cars or whatever. When Trent proclaims "ditch the labels", he gets press coverage all over, and everyone knows he has a new album to purchase, a tour coming up and more. But the rest of us, competing for eyes and ears in the media saturated world, what are we to do? How do we cut through and actually get heard beyond our town/neighborhood/or even here in Brooklyn without the clout and experience of a label? No one has figured that out yet.

Thank God we have someone like Trent at the cutting edge. As a musician I appreciate his past experiences and hope to learn from his lessons and succeed.

I applaud Trent's efforts, but the fact remains that copyright law has been unfairly manipulated by the whole industry for decades. In some countries it is possible for a label to maintain copyright on a work for more than 100 years! Copyright was originally intended to protect artists from the publishers (aka labels) who, in the past, would distribute works for profit without paying a penny to the creators. It took government intervention, in the form of copyright, to make them pay up. However, in modern times, the artists have signed away their own protection and handed it over to the labels who have turned it into a massive cudgel to wield against consumer and artist alike. In other words, the artists are entirely to blame for giving up their own protection to the very same publishers it was meant to protect them from. The bottom line is, until I see artists waking up to the fact that copyright is so corrupt in this modern day, there is no way I'll ever buy copyright encumbered music again. There are many excellent artists releasing under the Creative Commons or other sharealike licenses (often called Indie artists) that are putting much more on the line than NIN. Copyright is no longer what it was meant to be, and must either be returned to it's original purpose or abolished entirely.

Yes, I agree with Trent. Though I've never made it into the major label world as an artist myself, I'm doing remarkably well communicating directly with my fans of www.StevenCravis.com for example everyone who signs up for my confidential email list immediately gets 12 free legal high quality music downloads.

I'm deep into the political technology scene and there are two stories that usually appear at least once a week. 1. Trent Reznor does something for the fan and makes money from it. 2. The Music Labels sues fans, other labels, and artists and makes money from it. The old-world labels say that they are working for the artist, but the truth is just as Reznor puts it. The cost per CD is less then a penny, but the middle men (who are usually the contract makers and the labels) make 90% of the sale. People that don't even show up on the credits rake in the most money, and the rest is left to the artist. (Which goes back to the labels for all the "marketing".) The problem here is two fold. The CD market is brimming with plastic discs that are nothing more then trophies for a single or a few good tracks. The other issue is that the labels are not acknowledging the changes in technology and the culture of music. The innovators like Reznor understand that the music is not a product anymore. You can't "sell" music anymore then you can sell air, sound, and emotions. Rather, in our my-facebook-space twitter world, we share music to express our feelings, to make better/stonger connections with others, and to define ourselves and our days. The purpose of music have not changed, but the distribution to the audience has. What used to be a mix-tape and mix-cd is now our playlist. But how can artist make money from giving this away for free? They can't. What can they offer though that we would want? It's much much easier then just t-shirts, but it's all the same. We consume and replace music, but you cannot replace an experience. The sound of a MP3 is not the same as being in a actual concert, or having a piece of memorabilia. When I buy a CD, I'm buying a copy from an original master that I can access. It signifies that I "Own" the contents of the CD because it connected to me much like how I own a necklace or clothing that represent my expression. How much are we willing to pay though for such an offer? To me a CD is only worth 5$ at most. I've paid though 30$ for 3 when I got the meet the artist in person, and 100$+ for a boxset of a Live Recordings that includes much more then just the music. All of which, each artist got more out of one sale then they would out of 10,000 sales though a label. I just wish more artist will be like Reznor and understand that it's not the music that fans by, but their connection to you they are willing to pay top-dollar for.

I had a similar experience to Reznor when I made a film and then had to sign contracts for distribution with a major studio/record label. Our movie was released in 2004 so the internet wasn't quite what it is now. But they took everything. sold the dvd's for $20+ and we had to repay them and we got like 1 cent per sale. The sales did really well and they claim they never made their initial investment back and we still owe them. I'll never do that again. F*** the studios and labels! Right on Reznor. Power to the people!

69punk's got a point, anton. while that's great that you're able to cheaply and independently produce marketing materials (i.e. stickers and even your own cd's nowadays) you have to take a lot of things into account with that mindset. one thing - a major thing - is that every other band is thinking along those same lines, right now. i don't tend to take notice of stickers because they're EVERYWHERE, and EVERYONE is doing it. i don't tend to check out myspaces as much because now every local upstart has one and is using a bot to try and get fans...it's true, a lot of bands are going to be successful as long as their music is good, but i can name quadruple the amount who won't get any buzz. the three of us could easily name hundreds of artists that aren't as successful or recognized as they should be...hell, how many people do you know who can make a living off their music? that, the most simplistic form of "success" in the entertainment industry, and it's a lot harder to come by than people think. while labels aren't always the answer, blindly railing against them and trying to do everything on your own isn't necessarily going to bring you any success, either.

Some of the reaction by the musicians is understood, however Trent has the funding to support his own marketing campaign. Small independents do not. Stickers will only go so far. You need a strong street team, and from what I have personally seen, you are definitely as strong as your weakest link. Don't hate on record labels for everything. Getting tour support and advertising in the right channels by small dorm room sized labels is non-existent. I agree with Trent that the model needs tweakin', but what acts is he supporting? I think the best way for young artists to make it big these days is to have a strong veteran act to either cover a song or produce that independent band's record. Then let the internet news channels cover this effort. If you haven't heard of The Gaslight Anthem, you will hear everything you want to know about them in the next six months. I'll let you figure out what veteran is supporting them.

Screw Record Labels!! Our band is aggressive with guerrilla marketing and promoting. We just made a couple thousand stickers for cheap at stickerjunkie and slapped them everywhere. We put our myspace page and website address on the stickers so people can check out our tunes. These days its more cost effective to do things like that and create a buzz about yourself. If your music is good, you will be successful.

Young artists definitely need to explore different models... technology is commoditizing and devaluing the music itself so its important to start cutting out the middleman(labels+distributors). To me it really looks like music itself will eventually become totally free and the money will primarily come from live performances + merchandising/auxiliary income sources. Either that, or a brand new way to monetize music online will come along that is more efficient and seamless than we have now. Although I'm sure not being on a label is hard to grasp for a lot of emerging artists b/c being on labels has a certain status appeal, and larger labels have more resources to push & build artists. -Ben Brown ben-brown.com

I've always felt this way about record labels. In my twenties, I was offered a recording contract with 2 different labels and I turned them both down. Artists should own their creativity. I'm glad Trent Reznor is vocalizing this.

Makes sense to me. Well done! RT www.anon-tools.cz.tc

Good for you man....The record companies are reaping what they sow. Perhaps this will stop the incessant releasing of s**tty music by labels.