Even Deeper # 6: NIN Leaves Interscope Records?Feb 20 '03 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line NIN and Nothing Records are rumored to be leaving Interscope Records as the future for the band and the label is now at an uncertain crossroads. Even Deeper # 6 NIN & Nothing Records Leaves Interscope Records 2002 didn’t see much from Nine Inch Nails and Nothing Records although the band did release their highly anticipated live album “And All That Could Have Been” with the accompanying DVD and an Internet-only release called “Still”. That didn’t mean Trent Reznor and company were lying on their laurels as Reznor continued to work on the Tapeworm side project with Tool singer Maynard James Keenan that also included 12 Rounds’ Atticus Ross, Keenan’s A Perfect Circle drummer Josh Freese, and NIN cohorts Jerome Dillon and Danny Lohner. With Maynard and Freese now working on the next APC album with Lohner, band co-founder Billy Howerdel, and former Marilyn Manson bassist Twiggy Ramirez, Dillon meanwhile is working on a solo project as well as a side project with NIN engineer/programmer Keith Hillebrandt. Again with more rumors with NIN on hold, Reznor is also working on producing the solo album for former Rage Against The Machine singer Zach De La Roca. For the past five months, there hasn’t been any news on NIN or the Tapeworm project as the growing inactivity have worried some fans as well as some question. On Monday, February 17, 2003, those questions have might be answered. Former Nothing Records artist and Reznor’s former protégé Marilyn Manson announced some news on his message board and a fan asked Manson any news concerning the Tapeworm project and then he released the bombshell. He made the announcement as he quoted: “Sorry, but I have no involvement with Nothing Records as they have separated from Interscope. Trent would never censor me, but then again I am not allowing anyone else to either. I also don’t know any details of Tapeworm”. For those who have been following Marilyn Manson’s career know that his new album “The Golden Age of Grotesque” was slated for a late 2002 release but was pushed to early 2003 as the album will come out in the next few months. The album was also slated to be the last album Manson releases under his contract with Nothing Records. With this recent news that he announced, it’s likely that Manson will now release the new album directly under the Interscope label, as it is now certain that Manson’s relationship with Nothing Records and Trent Reznor is officially over. Especially since the relationship between Reznor and Manson for the past few years haven’t been talking very much even though they made a truce in 2000 after a brief feud but since Reznor is also Manson’s boss, it should be noted that Reznor has always given Manson freedom to whatever he wanted and since Manson always wants to retain a level of superstardom, Reznor cannot give Manson the kind of money or campaign that most record labels would offer so Reznor has no choice but to give Manson to Interscope since that label can bring that kind of prestige that most artists would want. With Manson now out of the Nothing label, what does all of this mean for Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails, Tapeworm, and Nothing Records? Well, we have to go back to Nothing Records’ history for all of this. For anyone following Reznor’s career knew that Reznor signed with TVT label back in 1989 for the release of the first NIN album “Pretty Hate Machine” but Reznor’s contract with the label turned out to be a slavery contract forbidding him to work with any projects outside of the label that led Reznor to sue TVT in 1991. Then came Interscope Records, at the time a fledging label from Time Warner run by founder Jimmy Iovine who was looking for cutting edge acts to fill his roster that already had some success with Marky Mark and Gerardo. Iovine decided to buy TVT to acquire Reznor, who wasn’t happy at first, and in return, Reznor and manager John Malm Jr. were given their own label, which they named Nothing Records. Nothing Records didn’t become public even though it’s logo appeared in the 1992 NIN EPs for “Broken” and its accompanying remix record “Fixed”. In 1994, Reznor released the second NIN album “The Downward Spiral” on the Nothing label along with new records from protégé Marilyn Manson and old-school industrial-rock pioneers Pop Will Eat Itself. By 1995, Reznor had filled his roster with old bands like Meat Beat Manifesto and Coil and a new band named Prick. The label had even become a champion for electronic music as it signed Luke Vibert under his moniker Plug, the trip-hop group 12 Rounds, the influential alt-rock band The The, and in 1998, became the American distributor for the Warp label with such groups as Squarepusher, Autechre, Plaid, Bowling Green. Although Manson became the label’s star pushing millions of album sales, Nothing did become a celebrated indie label with a loyal following as the label did create a popular website www.nothingrecords.com/ and a web radio program. Now the label’s roster has been shorten since Warp has now made enough money to release their albums in the U.S. while acts like Meat Beat Manifesto, Plug, and The The have already left the label whose roster now includes NIN, the NIN side-project Tapeworm, 12 Rounds, Coil, former Pop Will Eat Itself singer Clint Mansell, and Prick. For the past five-six months, there hasn’t been any news concerning the Tapeworm project nor any upcoming releases from the Nothing label except for Marilyn Manson but with this recent bombshell from Manson came aboard, it seems now that after more than ten years of service, Nothing Records and NIN have officially ended their ties with Interscope and the relationship between Reznor and Interscope for the past few years weren’t very good. When NIN returned to the music scene in late 1999 with the double-album called “The Fragile”, the album drew rave reviews and good first week sales debuting at # 1 but a week later, the album fell to # 13 and ended up selling around 800,000 in the U.S. The problems between NIN and Interscope got worse in the spring when Interscope refused to fund the North American tour NIN was going to have and Reznor was forced to fund the tour himself and surprisingly, the tour was a success. Another problem between Reznor and Interscope aside from the label abandoning them was the public criticism The The singer Matt Johnson had with Interscope’s bosses and in 2001, after all the public battles, Johnson asked Reznor to let him go from the label which he did. Reznor also had to contend with a feud with L____ B______ singer and Interscope VP Fred Durst who was badmouthing whenever he had the shot even using some of Reznor’s songs to diss him publicly in a track on their 2000 album “Chocolate Starfish & the Hot Dog Flavored Water” though Reznor in the end got money from those sales. Although NIN recently have taken a low profile, that didn’t mean Reznor and company weren’t taking a break as they worked on another NIN album as well as the Tapeworm side project. Unfortunately, with the recent turmoil between Nothing and Interscope, the Tapeworm project has been delayed as well as an upcoming release from 12 Rounds which could mean that for some time between the past five-six months, NIN & Nothing has ended their affiliation with Interscope. The good thing about NIN and Nothing Records leaving Interscope and its bosses at Universal is that Reznor will no longer have to deal with the corporate climate that is going on in that label since they’re too busy reaping the sales of such artists like Enrique Iglesias, Eminem, 50 Cent, Fred Durst and the bands on his label, Staind and Puddle of Mudd. For Interscope, it’s one problem they’ve gotten rid of but they’ll be having a problem with Manson if his record doesn’t sell to their expectations. The bad part for all of this is where will NIN and Nothing Records go. Since there are not a lot of people to trust in the industry, it looks like Reznor and Malm are trying very hard to find new distributors who will accept them while trying to sell records to people who are interested in NIN and Nothing Records. Unfortunately, this means fans who are waiting for new records from that label will have to wait a bit longer as Reznor meanwhile is trying to keep it quiet and away from the industry. All I’m hoping for is if they ever find a home that has industry people they can trust, then I’ll be happy once I go to the record store and buy the next NIN single and album. Update: 2/20/03 There has been some more recent news concerning the next APC album where MTV News reported about the band ready to work on the next record where they mentioned Danny Lohner as ex-NIN guitarist. Again, this either might be another screw up from MTV News or another departure has emerged from the NIN camp. If Lohner has departed, it would hurt any ideas for Reznor since Lohner for more than five years had become a key collaborator and co-written some songs with Reznor including “The Perfect Drug”. On that same day, Reznor re-emerged on the band’s official website message board (www.nin.com/dboard) where he stated that more NIN news will come very soon. So with this recent emergence of news, it looks like NIN will finally have some answers revealed in the weeks or months to come. I just also received e-mail from one of the people from the NIN Hotline (www.theninhotline.net/) where he told me some things that might be going on with NIN, Tapeworm, the individual members and Nothing Records. Unfortunately, I will not reveal the sources from the e-mail until anything from NIN comes public which I will reveal in the next Even Deeper column very soon. Anyone who wants to talk to me privately about the recent email I got will answer me through my AIM and MSN ID that is all. Even Deeper # 5 http://www.epinions.com/content_2900271236 Even Deeper # 4 http://www.epinions.com/content_2806030468 Even Deeper # 3: Fragility Part 1: http://www.epinions.com/content_2569052292 Part 2: http://www.epinions.com/content_2570363012 Part 3: http://www.epinions.com/content_2571739268 Part 4: http://www.epinions.com/content_2572984452 Part 5: http://www.epinions.com/content_2574098564 Even Deeper # 2 http://www.epinions.com/content_2389352580 Even Deeper # 1 http://www.epinions.com/content_2329780356  |
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