Musician Trent Reznor working on secret music delivery project at Apple
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 --?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.
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 --?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.
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.
You mean like...iTunes Radio?
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?
You mean like...iTunes Radio?
yeah...imagine that.
Glad to hear it is "secretive". If it was "secret", we wouldn't have heard about it.
Apple is better at keeping quiet.
It seems since Apple has brought in outside people, they can't double down on secrecy and get people to keep quiet.
Meh.
Glad to hear it is "secretive". If it was "secret", we wouldn't have heard about it.
Apple is better at keeping quiet.
It seems since Apple has brought in outside people, they can't double down on secrecy and get people to keep quiet.
Meh.
To be fair, this is one guy with diarrhea of the mouth. When the last minute U2 rumor broke, the band did have the good sense to deny that they were working on anything with Apple.You can still buy individual tracks.
If you buy the whole album you get the individual tracks + the album.app
I'll bet it has something to do with Stems and integrating with Garageband.
The Apple/Reznor interactions have been emotional of the years! It should be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the coming months!!
I'm guessing it's an app for the iPhone that can use the camera to scan old 45s, 78s and LPs and, in an instant, record the tracks!
Benji didn't read the iTunes radio handbook it seems ...
ohh, that's right. Theyve got a heap of cash to spend .... /s
He's developing a music delivery system for the holes in your head. (hopefully NIN fans will get this one)
And the ones in your hand.
Sure, why not. A $50 million fine is now due.