TRENT REZNOR: Streaming Music Services Have 'Mortally Wounded' A Whole Tier Of Artists

NINE INCH NAILS leader Trent Reznor has blasted Spotify and Apple Music for the paltry payments the music streaming services paysout to music rightsholders. Speaking to GQ magazine, the industrial rock pioneer said: "I think the terrible payout of streaming services has mortally wounded a whole tier of artists that make being an artist unsustainable. And it's great if you're Drake, and it's not great if you're Grizzly Bear. And the reality is: Take a look around. We've had enough time for the whole 'All the boats rise' argument to see they don't all rise. Those boats rise. These boats don't. They can't make money in any means. And I think that's bad for art."

He continued: "I thought maybe at Apple there could be influence to pay in a more fair or significant way, because a lot of these services are just a rounding error compared to what comes in elsewhere, unlike Spotify where their whole business is that. But that's tied to a lot of other political things and label issues, and everyone's trying to hold onto their little piece of the pie and it is what it is. I also realize, I think that people just want to turn the faucet on and have music come in. They're not really concerned about all the romantic shit I thought mattered."

During the GQ interview, Reznor also spoke about the status of NINE INCH NAILS, which hasn't performed live since late 2022. Regarding why he deliberately chose to step back from playing shows, Trent said: "For the first time in a long time, I wasn't sure: What's the tour going to say? What do I have to say right now? We can still play those songs real good. Maybe we can come up with a new production. But it wasn't screaming at me: This is what to do right now."

Reznor went on to say that his soundtrack work with longtime collaborator Atticus Ross "managed to make NINE INCH NAILS feel way more exciting than it had been in the past few years. I'd kind of let it atrophy a bit in my mind for a variety of reasons."

Ross added: "I do feel excited about starting on the next record. I think we're in a place now where we kind of have an idea."

In March 2020, NINE INCH NAILS surprise-released two new albums: "Ghosts V: Together" and "Ghosts VI: Locusts". Consisting of 23 new instrumental tracks, they were described on NIN's web site as "two different records for two different mindsets."

Prior to "Ghosts V: Together" and "Ghosts VI: Locusts", Reznor and Ross last shared new NINE INCH NAILS music in a series of records released over three years: "Not The Actual Events" in 2016, "Add Violence" in 2017 and "Bad Witch" in 2018, with the latter followed by a tour.

The pair have spent much of the past decade composing scores for TV and film projects like "Bird Box", "Waves" and "Watchmen".

Reznor originally joined the streaming service Beats Music as the chief creative officer in 2012 and he became part of the Apple Music executive team when the tech giant bought Beats Electronics in 2014.

In a 2018 interview with Stereogum, Reznor explained why he left his position at Apple Music, saying: "I have a mixed set of feelings about the whole thing. From my own perspective, I got obsessed with trying to crack that code. Being stuck on a record label, watching fans get pissed off — watching myself get pissed off at fans and wondering why am I pissed off? 'Cause they're listening to my fuckin' album! A week before a plastic disc shows up in the store that no one wants to buy. They're not bootlegging t-shirts or something they're listening to shit I did and they're excited about it and I'm doing it too to other bands that I am excited about and I thought, 'This is broken. The whole idea is broken and there's got to be a better way.'

"Apple had been one of those companies that I really looked forward to what they were going to present. It's like Willy Wonka. I thought Steve Jobs was a genius and he brought things to the world that I think made significant changes and I looked forward to what was ahead. Steve wasn't there anymore but this was an opportunity that if I didn't do it, would I feel like I would've wondered what would have happened if I did do it. We were in-between record cycles and after much soul-searching I just thought, 'I'll jump into this and see what I can do.' And it was an eye-opening, incredible amount of work to be dropped into the world of engineers who didn't want you there. You know, the boss dropped you down in there and everyone's, like, 'What the fuck is this guy doing here?' It was an incredibly political situation that was defeating and tiring to have to deal with and most of the work seemed to be on that side than it was doing the actual work.

"I would like my sons to be able to think, 'Hey maybe there's a career I could have as an artist and I don't have to do that on the side while I do something else.' That there's a possible chance of a livelihood being made. I think after two real years of doing that full-time and another two years of doing it part-time some inroads were made that mattered — I think my awareness that most of that job comes down to product design and marketing and thinking about what the consumer wants felt at odds with the artist in me. I'd find myself speaking the language of the marketing guy because I'd been in a room with 40 people that were talking about brand identities and shit like that. I felt like, guilty that I wasn't being an artist and a part of that's my own madness but it made me realize I'm not that interested in that. I've seen it, I've been under the hood, I've sat at the table with these guys, I got to know them, I'm in awe of what they do. It's not what I think I was put on Earth to do. And I know that now.

"There was a part of me that always thought, 'What if I would've gone the computer engineering route? Would I be happier?' I don't know. The grass is greener on the other side. I had a chance to kind of deep-dive into working at a corporation. Seeing the nuts and bolts of how that works, there's a lot of fascinating shit in there that I never would've seen or experienced and I'm appreciative of the opportunity but it also made me cherish what I've made on the other side, as an artist."