I’ve been a Nine Inch Nails fan for quite awhile. I was introduced to their music (well, HIS music I guess) with Closer on the radio sometime in `94 (the CD boombox was still very much alive and kicking). Trent Reznor has always been a cut above most muscians in my opinion because he geniuenly appreciates technology, knows how to use it in creative and provocative ways, and also understands what implications it has for the future of music and even society as a whole. Also, the guy seems to really respect his fans and doesn’t use Nine Inch Nails as a brand solely to profit off them.

Kevin Rose recently interviewed him for an installment of Digg Dialogg and I thought I’d post some highlights from each of the ten questions. The video is also below:

Your business model still primarily involves selling music either digitally or physically. Why haven’t you embraced advertising as a business model?

• While explaining why he’s considering making nin.com self-sustaining with ads. “There will be a time coming up when Nine Inch Nails goes away for awhile.” What?! Why? When?
• Only 18% of people paid for Saul William’s album.
• On running his own label (Nothing Records). “…I learned that I don’t want to be in control of and held accountable for other acts because you’re always to blame for what’s good and bad…mostly what’s bad.”
• On the music industry in general. “The old record labels are dead and the new thing hasn’t really come out yet.”
• Can you make money on iTunes? “Not that I’ve seem personally.”
  

What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod?

• “What’s going through my head right now is do I tell the truth at the risk of uhh…career ending statement about to come out of my mouth.”
• He starts singing “Finally” by C.C. Peniston. No, I’m not joking. 9 mins 56 secs into the video…watch it.

What advice do you have for up and coming bands who chose the internet for distribution over traditional channels?

• On major record labels. “They’re not interested you as an artist. They’re interested in you as a means to make revenue.”
• On MTV as a form of exposure for bands in the 90′s. “…and we saw it with Nine Inch Nails. We went from 500 people a show to 5000 people a show `cause we had a video on MTV. Wow. OK. We could have toured forever and never got up that high.”
• “Print media has been killed off by the Internet…by the speed of it.”
  

What tech gadgets, hardware, software, can you not live without?

• On the iPhone. “…having a computer in your pocket that’s viable. That’s a big one.”

Have the plans to release a Year Zero mini-series on HBO fallen through? Or can we still look forward to a video representation of the album?

• “…it could be a reality.”
• “It’s a dramatic unraveling of the end of the world basically.”

What is your favorite thing you have seen done with your music by a fan of NIN?

• “Right off the top of my head nothing…there’s no clear winner in that category. I will say that it’s…it’s very interesting and flattering for me visit the remix portion of our website.”
• On remixing. “If I had had Queen’s multi-track stuff when I was a kid I would have lost my mind. Of course I’d also needed computers that didn’t exist at that time.”

What are some of your favorite video games?

• “I think when I came across Wolfenstein…it forced me to go out and buy a PC because I couldn’t believe how cool that was.”
• “I remember we were on tour and Doom came out and…it seemed like the coolest thing I’d ever seen in my life. I couldn’t believe how politically incorrect it was.”
• “I feel like an alternate route my life could have taken was the route of the programmer. And I think that’s every bit an art form as music is.”
• “I think a lot of the big publishers have gone the route of record labels and movie companies.”
• “My favorite game of all time is Robotron.”
  

Will any of the records of your side project Tapeworm, with Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan, ever be released?

• “The end result was kind of…mediocre..to be honest with you.”
• “If you’re gonna combine Tool and Nine Inch Nails it has to be…10/10, not 7/10.”
• “I love Maynard. He’s a good friend and I’m certain that we’re gonna do something together that’s 10/10.”
  

Since you are a tech artist, are you planning an online concert?

• “I was talking with James Cameron a couple years ago…and he showed me a lot of stuff he’d been filming with his proprietary camera setup that he has…and it’s pretty impressive.”
• “I would go see a band I don’t even like if I could see a concert live in 3D just to see what it’s like.”
• “Getting into the idea of trying to charge people to watch something on the Internet. I haven’t thought this through, but it feels like it gets into that same territory of…you’re selling people…snake oil basically.”

Is there tension between art director Rob Sheridan and basist Justin Meldal-Johnsen over coverage of the Scientology protest?

• “There hasn’t been any kind of issue like that. It’s just a matter of common sense and tolerance.”
• “We’ve in the band, for the first time really, we’re all friends and we all respect each other.”