Thursday, May 17, 2007

Head like a hole

Read the letter by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor yet?

Apparently he's not too impressed at the pricing of his latest album in Oz, which he spied while touring there recently...

"As the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more. A couple of examples that quickly come to mind:

* The ABSURD retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia. Shame on you, UMG. Year Zero is selling for $34.99 Australian dollars ($29.10 US). No wonder people steal music. Avril La vigne's record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US).
By the way, when I asked a label rep about this his response was: "It's because we know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out - you know, true fans. It's the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy."
So... I guess as a reward for being a "true fan" you get ripped off.

* The dreaded EURO Maxi-single. Nothing but a consumer rip-off that I've been talked into my whole career. No more.

The point is, I am trying my best to make sure the music and items NIN puts in the marketplace have value, substance and are worth you considering purchasing. I am not allowing Capital G to be repackaged into several configurations that result in you getting ripped off."


Also, the first episode of Flight of the Conchords HBO series is available online at Myspace, ahead of its June 17 US debut. Go here to watch. More clips from the HBO series - scroll down on this page. (hat tip to Pop Candy)

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