Music Business

UPDATE: Apple’s Trent Reznor Says YouTube Was ‘Built On Backs Of Free Stolen Content,’ Google Responds

reznorUPDATE: Apple execs usually prefer to extol the virtues if their products rather than criticize competitors.  But Nine Inch Nails front man and Apple Music product design exec Trent Reznor took the low road when asked about Google's You Tube. Now Google has responded.

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In a Billboard interview,  Apple Music exec and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor was asked: "YouTube has been increasingly vilified by the labels. How do you view its current standing?" Reznor replied:

YOuTube NO"Personally, I find YouTube’s business to be very disingenuous. It is built on the backs of free, stolen content and that’s how they got that big. I think any free-tiered service is not fair. It’s making their numbers and getting them a big IPO and it is built on the back of my work and that of my peers. That’s how I feel about it. Strongly. We’re trying to build a platform that provides an alternative – where you can get paid and an artist can control where their [content] goes."

UPDATE:  A Google spokesperson responded with this statement:

The overwhelming majority of labels and publishers have licensing agreements in place with YouTube to leave fan videos up on the platform and earn revenue from them. Today the revenue from fan uploaded content accounts for roughly 50 percent of the music industry's YouTube revenue. Any assertion that this content is largely unlicensed is false. To date, we have paid out over $3 billion to the music industry – and that number is growing year on year.

Reznor Is On YouTube

Reznor's disdain for YouTube has not extended to a Prince-like ban on his music there, however.   Nine Inch Nails has an extensive official YouTube channel with almost 23 million total views and 93K subscribers.

 

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Bruce Houghton on 06/15/2016 in Music Business | Permalink | Comments (11)
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11 Comments

  1. I don’t think he will ever delete his YouTube channel. I think he knows that people want free music. It is more than obvious in our days that free music is the future.

  2. Yeah, kind of hard to feel sorry for someone worth $70 million dollars. Is it moral to continue accumulating so much wealth while people in the U.S. don’t have enough to buy the daily food they need? Don’t throw moral stones when you live in a moral glass house.

  3. I think that’s complete BS. They are pushing back hard because they are renegotiating contracts now. YT has fostered a phenomenal ecosystem for tens of thousands of creators including myself. The major labels are the real issue.

  4. I agree with Reznor. Youtube takes so long to respond to take down notices that it’s impossible to police content. When something finally comes down another copy pops right back up.
    As for whether his wealth precludes him from making any moral arguments, think about the logical consequences of that kind of thinking for a second, please?

  5. I’m fine with my music being free, as long as I can get free food, free housing, free electricity, free transportation, free medication, free computers, free Internet connection, free clothing, free TV, free Phones, etc…

  6. “Is it moral to continue accumulating so much wealth while people in the U.S. don’t have enough to buy the daily food they need?”
    Is it moral for Google to have a valuation of 533 BILLIONS OF DOLLARS while the content creators that feed it have to accept ..uh…”exposure” as payment ?
    Maybe Google employees and executives should work for free too, wouldn’t that be more moral ?

  8. Some day, you will get free food, free housing, etc. Everything will be free in the future.
    In a recent interview I gave to a music blog, I was asked: “These days free music downloading has become the norm. It’s a constant struggle for artists to make money from music sales. How do you feel about this?” You can read my reply at http://www.sakisgouzonis.com/press-group-83.html#10 (it’s the 8th question)

  10. “The overwhelming majority of labels and publishers have licensing agreements in place with YouTube to leave fan videos up on the platform and earn revenue from them.”
    That’s because Google forces them to leave fan videos up when labels sign contracts. It’s a take it or leave it scenario. Google needs to stop hiding behind Safe Harbor.

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