Trent Reznor Tees Off On Apple
Trent Reznor isn’t one to shy away from taking on the man. He self-releases his albums digitally through his website and often allows fans to sample his music for free in re-mixes. Now, he’s taking on Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). In the Nine Inch Nails blog Reznor tells how iTunes wouldn’t accept his latest iPhone app, nin: access, because it allows users to listen to the album The Downward Spiral, which Apple deemed offensive. Reznor says that he was puzzled because the album The Downward Spiral isn’t even available on his app.
Reznor compares iTunes’ standards to those of his old nemesis Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) — back in ’90s, Rezor refused to censor his music sold at Wal-Mart to conform with the company’s decency standards: “Wal-Mart went on a rampage years ago insisting all music they carry be censored of all profanity and ‘clean’ versions be made for them to carry…I can understand if you want the moral posturing of not having any ‘indecent’ material for sale. But you could literally turn around 180 degrees from where the NIN record would be and purchase the film Scarface completely uncensored, or buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto where you can be rewarded for beating up prostitutes. How does that make sense?”
We have a call in to Apple, and will add the company’s take on this if and when we hear back.
The issue is really "Parental Controls."
Apple tags certain tracks on the iTunes Store as "Explicit." It actually gets this information from the label–Apple doesn't make that determination. There is a control in iTunes which allows parents the ability to say that their children cannot buy content labeled "Explicit." Most of us consider this to be a good thing.
Unfortunately, Apple did not make the same capability available on the App Store.
Trent's analogy actually works here. Suppose Wal-Mart had a service where they wouldn't let your child buy CDs with explicit lyrics. So, no, your child cannot buy the NIN CD. But they can buy the NIN DVD which contains the same song. You'd think Wal-Mart was pretty stupid, wouldn't you?