NIN

Jeffrey Campagna:

Have you checked out Nine Inch Nails lately? Talk about a project that is more than a CD and more a piece of art. I spent about 4 hours the other night going from web site to webs site learning about something called Parepin and totally being hooked. I had to keep reading and reading going from website to website. Talk about a Viral marketing campaign. And how was it discovered? By hungry fans using the internet.

Year Zero Research

All I remember is David Letterman telling his audience he had to get that Nine Inch Nails on his television program.  After their Woodstock ’94 appearance.  You see there was BUZZ!  But Trent Reznor wouldn’t take his troupe on TV.  Even though Dave went on for weeks.  That’s when I realized they were different.

Go to: Year Zero (album).  Unless you’re in on the game, you’ll think it’s a joke.  An elaborate marketing campaign that’s got nothing to do with "Saturday Night Live" and nothing to do with "The New York Times".  It exists WHOLLY OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM!  Like video games used to.

Think of all the money Trent is leaving on the table.  All those kids who’d like to play!

FUCK ‘EM!  Who needs them as fans!  The cheerleaders and football players more interested in their social status at the high school than with what goes on inside.

Still, you know there’s a whispering campaign.  On the campus.  Both high school and college.  And those who’ve graduated, they’re like Mr. Campagna above, surfing, IM’ing, e-mailing.

But it’s not only this elaborate game.  Go to: NIN.  Stunning that the site doesn’t take forever to load, like the Flash-overloaded pages of the wannabes, of the label hypes.  And when you click on the splash page, you get to this index, that doesn’t look like your usual homepage, there are no pictures, they’re not trying to SELL YOU ANYTHING!

As a matter of fact, they’re giving something away.  Click around and you’ll find GarageBand files, multitrack files of tracks that you can remix YOURSELF!

GarageBand?  But what about WINDOWS USERS!  Fuck Mac users.  We get to them last.  We don’t let people watch videos in QuickTime, there’s no COPY PROTECTION!  But Trent knows it’s Mac users who more than e-mail and surf the Web, THEY’RE the ones with the built-in program that allows them to make music, to fuck with music.

There was some ink about the GarageBand files over a year back.  But now, as the Web has developed, this new campaign Jeffrey Campagna is infatuated with is positively underground, it’s STEALTH!

NIN does not make easy music.  Non-thinkers might believe they need a carpet bomb approach.  So that they can reach EVERY potential NIN fan.  But it’s not about making yourself ubiquitous, alienating your core, but ONLY SERVING YOUR CORE!  And letting your core grow you.

Now my understanding is unlike the Arcade Fire dates, NIN shows are not cheap.  But why should they be?  They’re extravaganzas, people are willing to PAY!  Just like you’re willing to pay to get into an exclusive club, an exclusive restaurant, buy a BMW.

How many years ago did NIN break?  Certainly over a decade.  But they can still sell out arenas.  Jessica Simpson is in the tabloids and on the equivalent Websites seemingly every day, but she can’t sell a record and almost nobody wants to see her.  Ten years from now?  If she’s lucky she’ll have a TV career.  Then again, can she read the cue cards?

5 Responses to NIN »»


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  1. Comment by Bob Ezrin | 2007/03/21 at 22:17:58

    Bob,

    Trent Reznor is a true visionary. He has broken and reinvented the rules of engagement on every level from recording to touring to interacting with his fans.

    He’s an intensely determined person – aware and on top of everything that happens in his name from his music to his marketing. Trent controls all things Trent. Yes, he’s had help along the way, but he’s the captain of the Trent ship and his career is a product of his imagination and drive. He is not manufactured, homogenized, manipulated or packaged. He is Trent – and the rest of the folks get to react.

    There’s a clue in here to how to run one’s life as an aspiring artist. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in situations where aspiring artists (as you know, I hate the designation but will grant it to a few sublimely talented folks like Trent) have created something and have had a vision that has not resonated with their "handlers" from management to producers, to the record company to even sometimes their lawyer – and have succumbed to the pressure to conform to the taste and judgment of these people at the expense of their own intuition – and have failed either immedately or ultimately because, in the end, they simply weren’t distinguished enough to connect to a large group of people in a lasting way. They may have produced a "hit song" but they typically did not create a career.

    If Trent had done what everyone wanted him to, he would not have become a better selling act or bigger star as some of his advisors may have secretly thought. Instead, he would have disappeared long ago.

    No one knows the heart or genius of true artists but the artists themselves. No one can predict them or imitate them or even steer them towards success. They are by definition single minded people who cannot – and must not – see things the way the rest of us do. Once upon a time, we had a business built by passionate amateurs who revered the artists and who became their protectors, advocates and promoters. These folks didn’t presume to tell their artists what to do. Oh, every once in a while, they might beg and plead for more or different to help them to do their job, but they NEVER imposed their creative will on the people they most admired in all the world. And so we had a landscape of determind individualists who made very individual music – lots of it. We all know who they were – and some still are. But now the biggest part of the business is run by cold hearted professionals whose reverence is for the bottom line first and last – and who think nothing of imposing their ideas and will on the people they sign. And most of those signings are not because they are enthralled by genius or art but because they smell "a hit" or know that someone else does and that they’d better get in there first.

    Now, when I say stuff like this, all the record company people get pissed off at me and say I’m an asshole and they are there because of their love for music etc. And I don’t doubt that this is what propelled them at the start (though I suspect the notion of getting rich and hanging with rockstars may have had a bit to do with it too). But how many of the new leaders of our industry are able to resist the pressures of making their numbers in favor of supporting their artists? In fact, isn’t their primary job to "increase shareholder value"? So, they really can’t resist those pressures honestly and still be doing what they’re being paid to do. The problem with this is that it takes more than a quarter to build something of value and real art cannot be scheduled or projected – only commodoties can. But if we’re just a commodities business, then by definition we cannot build anything of real value – for the shareholders or the world.

    So, what’s the biggest lesson here? It is that, if we can all agree to do as Ahmet recommended and surround ourselves with brilliant people and help those people to develop their craft, their own voice, and become artists making things of real value, we might see our way into the next golden age of popular music.

    Thank God for Trent – and for all the others like him who will not compromise and will fight to realize their vision. In the end, they might save us all.

    Bob

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  3. […] ius behind it that is Trent Reznor. Maybe I should be more forthcoming in my reasons why. This blog post far better articulates a great reason.

    […]

  4. comment_type != "trackback" && $comment->comment_type != "pingback" && !ereg("", $comment->comment_content) && !ereg("", $comment->comment_content)) { ?>
  5. Pingback by David Balogh » Brings a tear… | 2007/04/18 at 07:12:58

    […] ;t forget to read the comment in this article as well, he’s just as important to it. Blog Post about NIN
    Entry Filed under: Music

    Leave a Com […]

  6. comment_type != "trackback" && $comment->comment_type != "pingback" && !ereg("", $comment->comment_content) && !ereg("", $comment->comment_content)) { ?>
  7. Pingback by Music Marketing: Connecting The Dots « Chris Hanaka | 2009/03/11 at 15:56:10

    […] Here’s the entirety of what Bob Lefsetz thought of this viral marketing campaign created by 42 Entertainment the talent behind the Halo/I Love Bees campaign which should absolutively positively not be confused with the Happy Feet promotion… […]

  8. comment_type != "trackback" && $comment->comment_type != "pingback" && !ereg("", $comment->comment_content) && !ereg("", $comment->comment_content)) { ?>
  9. Pingback by Cognitive Psych Research Activity 4 | Michele Houston | 2011/11/06 at 15:06:27

    […] Music analyst Jeffrey Campagna says, “Have you checked out Nine Inch Nails lately? Talk about a project that is more than a CD and more a piece of art. I spent about 4 hours the other night going from web site to webs site learning about something called Parepin and totally being hooked. I had to keep reading and reading going from website to website. Talk about a Viral marketing campaign. And how was it discovered? By hungry fans using the internet..” […]


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  1. Comment by Bob Ezrin | 2007/03/21 at 22:17:58

    Bob,

    Trent Reznor is a true visionary. He has broken and reinvented the rules of engagement on every level from recording to touring to interacting with his fans.

    He’s an intensely determined person – aware and on top of everything that happens in his name from his music to his marketing. Trent controls all things Trent. Yes, he’s had help along the way, but he’s the captain of the Trent ship and his career is a product of his imagination and drive. He is not manufactured, homogenized, manipulated or packaged. He is Trent – and the rest of the folks get to react.

    There’s a clue in here to how to run one’s life as an aspiring artist. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in situations where aspiring artists (as you know, I hate the designation but will grant it to a few sublimely talented folks like Trent) have created something and have had a vision that has not resonated with their "handlers" from management to producers, to the record company to even sometimes their lawyer – and have succumbed to the pressure to conform to the taste and judgment of these people at the expense of their own intuition – and have failed either immedately or ultimately because, in the end, they simply weren’t distinguished enough to connect to a large group of people in a lasting way. They may have produced a "hit song" but they typically did not create a career.

    If Trent had done what everyone wanted him to, he would not have become a better selling act or bigger star as some of his advisors may have secretly thought. Instead, he would have disappeared long ago.

    No one knows the heart or genius of true artists but the artists themselves. No one can predict them or imitate them or even steer them towards success. They are by definition single minded people who cannot – and must not – see things the way the rest of us do. Once upon a time, we had a business built by passionate amateurs who revered the artists and who became their protectors, advocates and promoters. These folks didn’t presume to tell their artists what to do. Oh, every once in a while, they might beg and plead for more or different to help them to do their job, but they NEVER imposed their creative will on the people they most admired in all the world. And so we had a landscape of determind individualists who made very individual music – lots of it. We all know who they were – and some still are. But now the biggest part of the business is run by cold hearted professionals whose reverence is for the bottom line first and last – and who think nothing of imposing their ideas and will on the people they sign. And most of those signings are not because they are enthralled by genius or art but because they smell "a hit" or know that someone else does and that they’d better get in there first.

    Now, when I say stuff like this, all the record company people get pissed off at me and say I’m an asshole and they are there because of their love for music etc. And I don’t doubt that this is what propelled them at the start (though I suspect the notion of getting rich and hanging with rockstars may have had a bit to do with it too). But how many of the new leaders of our industry are able to resist the pressures of making their numbers in favor of supporting their artists? In fact, isn’t their primary job to "increase shareholder value"? So, they really can’t resist those pressures honestly and still be doing what they’re being paid to do. The problem with this is that it takes more than a quarter to build something of value and real art cannot be scheduled or projected – only commodoties can. But if we’re just a commodities business, then by definition we cannot build anything of real value – for the shareholders or the world.

    So, what’s the biggest lesson here? It is that, if we can all agree to do as Ahmet recommended and surround ourselves with brilliant people and help those people to develop their craft, their own voice, and become artists making things of real value, we might see our way into the next golden age of popular music.

    Thank God for Trent – and for all the others like him who will not compromise and will fight to realize their vision. In the end, they might save us all.

    Bob

  2. comment_type == "trackback" || $comment->comment_type == "pingback" || ereg("", $comment->comment_content) || ereg("", $comment->comment_content)) { ?>

    Trackbacks & Pingbacks »»

    1. […] ius behind it that is Trent Reznor. Maybe I should be more forthcoming in my reasons why. This blog post far better articulates a great reason.

      […]

    2. comment_type == "trackback" || $comment->comment_type == "pingback" || ereg("", $comment->comment_content) || ereg("", $comment->comment_content)) { ?>

      Trackbacks & Pingbacks »»

      1. Pingback by David Balogh » Brings a tear… | 2007/04/18 at 07:12:58

        […] ;t forget to read the comment in this article as well, he’s just as important to it. Blog Post about NIN
        Entry Filed under: Music

        Leave a Com […]

      2. comment_type == "trackback" || $comment->comment_type == "pingback" || ereg("", $comment->comment_content) || ereg("", $comment->comment_content)) { ?>

        Trackbacks & Pingbacks »»

        1. Pingback by Music Marketing: Connecting The Dots « Chris Hanaka | 2009/03/11 at 15:56:10

          […] Here’s the entirety of what Bob Lefsetz thought of this viral marketing campaign created by 42 Entertainment the talent behind the Halo/I Love Bees campaign which should absolutively positively not be confused with the Happy Feet promotion… […]

        2. comment_type == "trackback" || $comment->comment_type == "pingback" || ereg("", $comment->comment_content) || ereg("", $comment->comment_content)) { ?>

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          1. Pingback by Cognitive Psych Research Activity 4 | Michele Houston | 2011/11/06 at 15:06:27

            […] Music analyst Jeffrey Campagna says, “Have you checked out Nine Inch Nails lately? Talk about a project that is more than a CD and more a piece of art. I spent about 4 hours the other night going from web site to webs site learning about something called Parepin and totally being hooked. I had to keep reading and reading going from website to website. Talk about a Viral marketing campaign. And how was it discovered? By hungry fans using the internet..” […]

          This is a read-only blog. E-mail comments directly to Bob.