This morning I came across Spin's recent interview with Trent Reznor, the mastermind behind Nine Inch Nails, in which he discusses many things, including the value of his music. What really caught my attention though was Reznor saying, "...my personal feeling is that my album's not worth a dime. It's not a buck. I made it as well as I could, and it costs 10 bucks, or go fuck yourself."
Now this is all well and good, except for the fact that I paid '12 bucks' for my copy of Hesitation Marks, and I bought it directly from the official Nine Inch Nails store! Why did I pay more, when there should have been fewer middle-men involved?
Okay, so by ordering directly from the NIN Store I am able to download MP3, Apple Lossless, FLAC, or WAV versions of the entire album, as well as the Audiophile Mastered Version in all those formats too. That is well worth the extra '2 bucks.' However, I also ordered the Deluxe CD, which is '20 bucks' at the NIN Store, double Reznor's recommended '10 bucks,' and '4 bucks' more than what Amazon are selling the record for. Again, Why did I pay more, when there should have been fewer middle-men involved?
Using Amazon as the benchmark for suggested retail prices (as they're selling the Standard CD version of Hesitation Marks for $9.99), I've paid a total of $6 more than the suggested retail price for my copies of Hesitation Marks, by ordering directly from the official Nine Inch Nails Store! What has this extra $6 actually bought me? Yes, I have lossless downloads of two mixes of Hesitation Marks (but I have also incurred additional costs by choosing to download these massive ZIP files), however there are no download options available that include the three bonus tracks from the Deluxe CD. Not even in less favourable lossy MP3! So why was the Deluxe CD version $4 more than Amazon, when the Standard CD was only an extra $2, and the files available to download are exactly the same! Why did I pay more, when there should have been fewer middle-men involved, and there are no additional files?
After having previously bought two Nine Inch Nails albums (Ghosts I and The Slip), which were made available as free downloads. I've supported Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails when South African record stores were charging higher prices for his albums than other artists,* and I'm still supporting Reznor. But paying higher prices for Nine Inch Nails records, when buying directly from the official Nine Inch Nails store, I'm definitely starting to feel a little cheated.
When it comes time for Nine Inch Nails to release their next album, I may take Reznor's own advice from 2007 and "Steal it!"
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* Those "ridiculous prices of CDs" mentioned by Reznor in the above video are also common in South Africa, where physical copies of The Slip were priced three-times more than any other release of the time. While many albums released by other artists in 2008 have come down in price, the price of Ghosts I-IV and The Slip have remained the same as they were on release day.
Okay, so by ordering directly from the NIN Store I am able to download MP3, Apple Lossless, FLAC, or WAV versions of the entire album, as well as the Audiophile Mastered Version in all those formats too. That is well worth the extra '2 bucks.' However, I also ordered the Deluxe CD, which is '20 bucks' at the NIN Store, double Reznor's recommended '10 bucks,' and '4 bucks' more than what Amazon are selling the record for. Again, Why did I pay more, when there should have been fewer middle-men involved?
Using Amazon as the benchmark for suggested retail prices (as they're selling the Standard CD version of Hesitation Marks for $9.99), I've paid a total of $6 more than the suggested retail price for my copies of Hesitation Marks, by ordering directly from the official Nine Inch Nails Store! What has this extra $6 actually bought me? Yes, I have lossless downloads of two mixes of Hesitation Marks (but I have also incurred additional costs by choosing to download these massive ZIP files), however there are no download options available that include the three bonus tracks from the Deluxe CD. Not even in less favourable lossy MP3! So why was the Deluxe CD version $4 more than Amazon, when the Standard CD was only an extra $2, and the files available to download are exactly the same! Why did I pay more, when there should have been fewer middle-men involved, and there are no additional files?
After having previously bought two Nine Inch Nails albums (Ghosts I and The Slip), which were made available as free downloads. I've supported Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails when South African record stores were charging higher prices for his albums than other artists,* and I'm still supporting Reznor. But paying higher prices for Nine Inch Nails records, when buying directly from the official Nine Inch Nails store, I'm definitely starting to feel a little cheated.
When it comes time for Nine Inch Nails to release their next album, I may take Reznor's own advice from 2007 and "Steal it!"
In the mean time I say, "Thanks Trent, here's my 32 bucks, now go fuck yourself."
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