Katie Marsal
Calling it "challenging" and "unfamiliar," Nine Inch Nails rocker and film composer Trent Reznor has revealed he is deeply involved in a secretive music delivery product in the works at Apple.
Reznor revealed his participation in a new interview with Billboard published Friday, saying that the new project came about from Apple's acquisition of Beats. Without giving specifics, Reznor said he's "designing some products" with Apple, leveraging his "unique position" in a way to benefit the company behind iTunes.
When asked if the project was related to music delivery, Reznor went as far as to say that it is "in that world." He also said that while the job is "creative," he's not "directly making music."
"I'm fully in it right now, and it's challenging, and it's unfamiliar and it's kind of everything I asked for — Â and the bad thing is it's everything I asked for," he said.
Reznor was also asked about Apple's collaboration with U2, which saw the band's new album, "Songs of Innocence," automatically added to users' music libraries. Some critics saw this as an invasion of privacy, while Reznor said both Apple and U2 probably would have come out of the promotion in a better light if they had simply given users the ability to add the songs to their library if they chose.
"I was with Bono that day. I was at the Apple event and we were hanging out after they did it," he said. "There's an immense sense of pride toward the album he just spent several years making. He was very proud of what he did."
The Nine Inch Nails frontman is also an Oscar-winning composer, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Score for his work on the film "The Social Network." Reznor and Atticus Ross also did the soundtrack for the recently released film "Gone Girl," directed by frequent collaborator David Fincher.
Speaking to Billboard, Reznor also admitted that he is a "life-long Apple consumer and fan and advocate." He showed that in 2013 when he used an iPhone 5s and FaceTime during a live concert in Las Vegas to speak with a friend dying of terminal cancer.
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29 Comments
The only way I would be interested in music streaming is if I had the option of purchasing tracks to keep, regardless of wether I subscribe or not. I would also like to see Apple apply the same model to films, tv programmes, books, audiobooks and podcasts.
I'm sure Apple could make it work.
Ok, maybe not THAT secretive.
Awesome. Looking forward to what it is. I like what he's done with the distribution of his own music. I wonder if this is related to the "new format" that U2 is supposedly working on with Apple. I'd certainly be more interested in hearing the outcome if Reznor is involved.
[quote name="Benjamin Frost" url="/t/183172/musician-trent-reznor-working-on-secret-music-delivery-project-at-apple#post_2632382"]The only way I would be interested in music streaming is if I had the option of purchasing tracks to keep, regardless of wether I subscribe or not. I would also like to see Apple apply the same model to films, tv programmes, books, audiobooks and podcasts. I'm sure Apple could make it work. [/quote] You mean like...iTunes Radio?
[quote name="Benjamin Frost" url="/t/183172/musician-trent-reznor-working-on-secret-music-delivery-project-at-apple#post_2632382"]The only way I would be interested in music streaming is if I had the option of purchasing tracks to keep, regardless of wether I subscribe or not. I would also like to see Apple apply the same model to films, tv programmes, books, audiobooks and podcasts. I'm sure Apple could make it work. [/quote] Curious what you mean here. What would be different about purchasing tracks you want to keep in unison with a streaming service? Whether from iTunes in unison with another Apple Streaming service, or from any other digital music retailer? Or are you instead talking about something more integrated, like the option to purchase a track you listen to through iTunes Radio (or competing services like Pandora) now?