NINE INCH NAILS Mainman Slams His Australian Record Label For 'Ripping Off' Fans

May 14, 2007

NINE INCH NAILS mastermind Trent Reznor has posted the following message on the band's official web site:

"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 LAVIGNE'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.

"We are planning a full-length remix collection of substance that will be announced soon."

NINE INCH NAILS' new album, "Year Zero", debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart, selling 187,000 copies in its first week of release. The group's previous effort, 2005's "With Teeth", moved 272,000 copies.

The new CD's much-talked-about marketing campaign has involved cryptic voicemails and a maze of eerie web sites in addition to leaked music.

NINE INCH NAILS will visit Japan later this month. North American tour plans are still to be announced.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).