Grammys snub Hard Rock and Metal legends

Last nights Grammy Awards ceremony was meant to end with a bang, especially considering that the final performance for the evening included some of rocks greatest talent including Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age). 

Instead of being treated to an absolute musical extravaganza, viewers at home got to watch a reasonably good live performance of the Nine Inch Nails' track 'Copy of a,' followed by a much better performance of the Queens of the Stone Age track 'My god is the sun.' Well, that was what everyone was anticipating, but because the ceremony was running late, the guys in charge decided it was time cut off Homme and the boys and let every one at home know where the Grammy Awards got there money from before rolling the final credits.

As a result Reznor had the following tweet for the people behind the Grammy Awards:

Music's biggest night... to be disrespected. A heartfelt FUCK YOU guys.

— Trent Reznor (@trent_reznor) January 27, 2014

Subsequently all videos of the performance have been removed with the organisers claiming copyright infringements. This prompted Spencer Kaufman across at Loudwire to write an open letter to the producers of Grammy Awards. It's an interesting read and points out a lot more of underlying issues within the 'music industry.'

Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and David Fincher team up once again

The soundtrack scoring duo, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails, How to Destroy Angels) and Atticus Ross (How to Destroy Angels), are set to team up with director David Fincher for the third time to score the soundtrack for Gone Girl.

The trio have previously collaborated on the soundtracks for The Social Network, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, while Fincher also directed the music video for the Nine Inch Nails' track, Only.

Dead Beats and Sol Invicto remixes

Before releasing the last track to Initium II, Sol Invicto treated us to a remix of Saul Williams' Break. The track originally appeared on Williams' album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust, which was produced by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.

Speaking of which, local production duo Dead Beats released a remix of Nine Inch Nails track, The hand that feeds this weekend too. It's been a while since I've listened to the original With Teeth version, but hearing this reminded me of how much I liked that song when it was released in 2005. Dead Beats have taken all the elements I liked from the original, and breathed new life into it. This is well worth a listen if you're a fan of Nine Inch Nails, and like hearing other artists interpretations of relatively well-known tracks.

If you enjoyed the remix then check out Dead Beats other offerings. They also have three EPs that can be downloaded for free. Two of these were released under the duos previous name, Sparrow.

The price of being a Nine Inch Nails supporter: $6, excluding shipping

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!"

In the mean time I say, "Thanks Trent, here's my 32 bucks, now go fuck yourself."

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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.