Nine Inch Nails ends relationship with record label

A week after English band Radiohead opened the shop for its self-released seventh album In Rainbows, Billboard reported yesterday that the band Nine Inch Nails is now celebrating status as a "free agent" as well. Since May, Trent Reznor, the band's front man, has been in a very open dispute about album pricing with Interscope Records, a division of Universal Music Group. Last month, that dispute flared up with Reznor telling fans in Australia and China to steal the album versus paying the high costs to obtain a copy.

According to Billboard, Reznor is very happy "to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate." This is similar to the situation Radiohead has presented to fans, allowing them to set their own price to download In Rainbows. A physical "discbox" sells at a set price around $82, but that physical set comes filled with much more than the standard album. Reznor had questioned the label for charging fans in Australia and China higher prices than in the United States and other regions. The Radiohead price is one set by the band, not the label. The question of high prices still remains though.

Unfortunately, while both of these cases present fans and listeners with improved "relations" it comes from artists that have achieved success and enjoy large and faithful fan bases. What happens to new artists that emerge and find a record industry unwilling to allow them to learn from these informative examples? Will the record industry allow an artist to build a fan base while maintaining the autonomy they wish? Will they be embraced by a record industry open to new ideas, or one that finds new ways to cash in - like taking shares of touring profits, for one?