Where's Reznor? | Fans and media alike have stayed at the beck and call of Reznor's market-smart rants and stunts.
Find It...
NIne Inch Nails
w/ Crystal Castles & guests. July 28 (8pm). Rexall Place. Tickets available through Ticketmaster (451-8000/ticketmaster.ca)
Every band has its fans, but the fans of “alternative” arena-packing groups like Tool, Radiohead, or Nine Inch Nails are different. And it’s not just the way they insist that even though the concerts take place at gigantic A-list venues with $80 ticket tags, they’ll argue to the death that their favourite bands aren’t at all “mainstream.”
No, we’re talking about their willingness to travel to another province (or another state) to see the band play, even though they’ve seen them live twice before. These are the fans who drop major dough on special edition box sets when they already own every single hard copy the band has ever released.
These, in short, are True Fans.
And apparently all anyone needs is 1,000 of these “true” peeps to sustain a viable art or music career. At least, that’s if you believe Kevin Kelly, editor of Wired mag and active blogger (www.kk.org/thetechnium): he’s gained a lot of attention in music circles lately for his thesis that “1,000 True Fans” can keep an artist making money until the end of time. Even if they release mediocre album after sub-mediocre album. Even if they go to rehab—twice. Even if they’re bitchier than hell in interviews.
Enter Trent Reznor—more often known as the brain behind Nine Inch Nails. In light of Reznor’s Tuesday visit, SEE music editor Fawnda Mithrush and music writer Renato Pagnani decided to chat about his uncanny ability to keep his fans chomping at the bit, and debate whether he’s really giving love back to his true fans or just indulging in empty marketing stunts.
Fawnda Mithrush: With the changes the music industry has undergone in the last decade, it’s more important than ever to generate excitement among your fanbase. Dropping your label and releasing your music free online is one thing, but keeping people’s attention is another. Reznor’s most recent stunt found NINheads combing the streets and drainpipes of L.A. in search of concert tickets: one minute coordinates for the treasure hunt were posted on the NIN website, the next The Loyal were scrambling around L.A. like undercover agents in an MTV version of 24. Now there’s how to keep people interested—not to mention make sure they’re subscribing to RSS feeds from his site.
Renato Pagnani: Yeah, and that stunt with the free tickets is not the first one Reznor’s staged, either. Over the last two years, perhaps no other musician has used viral marketing more effectively. Before Year Zero was released last year, he commissioned dozens of fictional websites designed to plunge fans into his Orwellian portrayal of the United States circa the year 2022. Hell, Rolling Stone even called the project “way cooler than Lost.” I don’t think simply keeping fans interested is where Reznor’s genius lies—after all, the viral marketing is essentially just spectacle. Making fans feel like they are involved is more powerful, and Reznor understands this.
FM: Well, I think they do get a sense of involvement, but I don’t know how genuine it is. Reznor’s really more like a puppetmaster when he sends his fans on treasure hunts for USB keys in washrooms at his gigs—the method he chose to intentionally “leak” Year Zero. It’s like the best marketing strategy ever: make people feel like there’s some secret club they’re getting access to because they’re “loyal.” I mean, you didn’t have to hit his site 20 times to be able to download The Slip; anyone could just go and get it.
RP: You’re right, but for those diehard fans, they can go the extra length and really delve into the mythology Reznor is building around each release. In that way, the loyal fans are sort of rewarded for their devotion to NIN, while the casual fans still have easy access to the music, which is really all they care about. And Reznor doesn’t waste his fans’ time; the work on these websites is just breathtaking—it’s clearly a labour of love for everyone involved, and I think the fans respect and appreciate that.
FM: Granted, the NIN artwork is intriguing, but tattoos of any high-concept album artwork aren’t uncommon anymore. If I had a nickel for every guy I’ve seen with a Lateralus eye inked on him... Well, that’s another band, and another crosstalk entirely. The point is, these bands aren’t just releasing albums; they’re releasing a hard-copy body of art as a package. Which is a very, very smart thing for a musician to do in the free download age. When Reznor started his public war with Universal by slagging their pricing of Year Zero in Australia (on his website, he wrote, “For being a ‘true fan’ you get ripped off”), he stood up for the little guys. His little guys. And the little guys supported him in turn by shelling out for his pretty albums. At the very least, people really noticed all the media attention he was getting.
RP: Your point about releasing a body of art as a package is important. Look at Radiohead—they released In Rainbows as a free download, but then made a collectible “discbox” available in stores. It included the physical album, a vinyl version for audiophiles, artwork, photos of the band, and lyric booklets. And it cost a whopping $80. But the thing sold out in a flash, likely snapped up by the True Fans. And, no doubt, by a lot more than 1,000 of them.
