Michael Masnick The Trent Reznor case study
Since completing his earlier major record label contract, musician Trent Reznor has been experimenting with a variety of new and unique business models for his band, Nine Inch Nails, to reach and connect with fans. This case study explores Reznor’s experiments, examining what has worked and what has not - and why. Speaker: Michael Masnick (Editor/President & CEO, Techdirt Blog/Floor64) … Michael Masnick The Trent Reznor case study
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
not true about #2. most people bought that package for that price and sold it for thousands more on ebay. a $300 investment is nothing if you’re going to make tons of money off it. he should’ve called that one “connect with fans to make them rich”.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
You are so very wrong, on so many levels. Do your research pal.
You guys need to stop messing with NIN fans. We school you every time.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
3) Ok…I don’t know that band. But ok, 10 euro ticket, 10 euro cd. How high are their costs? How big is their fanbase? How often do they play? How much music have they brought out? Why should I want to buy it if I could download it for free?
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
1) I dunno…the tickets arent much more expensive than other tickets for big bands. Besides, Masnick’s story is about the sale of cd’s, not so much the price of concert tickets.
2) There were various options available for the fans, if you simply want the music you could get it for free. However, money needs to be made and people need a reason to buy it, hence the fancy $300 set which was very limited.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
And Masnick’s Law rears it’s ugly head…
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
I’m impressed, it was very interesting to watch.
I am and have been Trent Reznor fan for many years now and he always amazed me. Not only NIN music, which is obviously a defferent galaxy in this point, but also he’s attitude in business. He’s brave, he’s real, his music is real, I believe that.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
You’ve missed the entire point by miles.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
1. A good show ist worse the costs
2. No, the album costs 7$. The premium pack costs 300$
3. I take a look
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
1) TR has an established fanbase, and has used and abused of the system for years. Have you seen how expensive are the concert tickets for NIN shows?
2) So basically, valuable music/art will cost 300$ and make very rich people happy? this is not CwF, this is CwRF: “Connect With Rich Fans”.
3) I’d advise you to look into less known bands who are really connected with fans, like the french band lofofora: 20 years in the biz, 10 euros concerts tickets, 10 euros CDs, and a loyal fan base.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Out of the fanbase that Nine Inch Nails have built up over 20 years based on the old business model and major label support, it’s not hard for Trent to sell autographs for $300 a time to fans- and good luck to him. But this lecturer is stupid to think that this is a new way for all musicians to make a living- it’s a good model for selling autographed stuff if you are famous using free music as a sales tool There’s no money to be made from music anymore- the labels know that and so does Trent
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Not exactly. They still sell CD, but in an attractive manner to keep the fans interested in buying them. I personally prefer having a physical copy to get the artwork and the booklet.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
So the music business is moving from the cd and the mp3 download to the deluxe box.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Agreed.
(And this guy is supposed to be smart.)
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Very annoying that the text show up just before he speak..
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Still, what he said could be what the music industry thinks.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Dig deeper, the artists that he works with make more money than they would have from any record label even when they give the product away. He’s on the right track.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
I liked the presentation, but to think what Trent Reznor is doing as a ‘business model’ sickens me. he’s doing it for the fans. sure he has to make a living but if people start to see this as a way to make money and rip off fans then the music industry would end up making the same mistakes as they are right now.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
We’re finding that it can be incredibly exhausting “connecting with the fans” beyond the normal hanging out after shows & myspace/facebook chatter. Therein lies the difficulty for small bands: without a large budget and dedicated newmedia staff a little three or four piece band is limited by the hours in the day they can dedicate to conceiving and implementing some of the more creative strategems. But I guess we have to do what we can and start somewhere!
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
this was very well presented. it is a very quick insight ot the “business model” and creativity the TR outlook to an ever changing industry.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
We do need to work on the website and I appreciate your comments- watch this space.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
I was just on the Pure Mint site and it’s not easy to use and I cant stream before I download. It took me a good search before I found mp3s to download. And then it asked for my phone number!!! The NIN site is by contrast consistent, easy and beautiful. I can check out the music in two clicks. CwF is also about the environment, the ease of use. With NIN i never would have listened. But the ghosts artwork intriuged me. before I would never have bought an album. Now I’m going to the O2 gig…
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Tom Ellard from Severed Heads (another legendary industrial band) started with the giveaways mp3’s on the Op series, Trent Reznor did good copying him.
Even beyond that, Ellard published the whole band’s discography in one single disc, ‘Severything’
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
All this lecture promotes is that successful artists will make more money if they take control of their own careers and vertically control everything, from the copyright to the ’special edition’ etc. NIN have their fans already, so yeah, of course they are going make more money selling directly to them, but they got those fans off the back of the old fashioned model.
When a new act breaks through on Creative Commons then I’ll review my thoughts…but I won’t hold out coz it aint happening yet!
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Now I’ll come clean. I am a music attorney who also runs a small cutting edge and very artist friendly label in the UK called Pure Mint. We don’t have the budgets of the majors so you may not have heard of us but we do a lot of CWF, incl. free music.
Problem with all of this, Radiohead, Reznor, is that they all started on the old fashioned model. TVT records, Interscope (Universal) all ploughed huge amounts of money into launching NIN’s careers. EMI did the same with Radiohead.
(cont.)
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am
And I’d say good riddance to those garbage bands you just listed.