The Bass Geek

Not that Nine Inch Nails wasn’t his baby anyway, but here’s another former major label artist taking it on the road for himself, according to this link (there’s no permalink there, so I’ll quote for posterity’s sake):

Hello everyone. I’ve waited a LONG time to be able to make the
following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally
free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have
been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the
business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very
different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a
direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate.
Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008.
Exciting times, indeed.

Even if you’re not a fan of the music (I’m sitting on the fence), the effort Reznor puts into creating awareness for his music (from posting tracks to be remixed via Garageband to the innovative “Year Zero” viral campaign) shows what’s possible for the innovative musician without the assistance (some would say the hindrance) of an outside label.

Again, though, it should be noted that this ability comes after years of exposure via said major labels and the accompanying funds that come from said exposure. I doubt that many independent musicians will have the resources to create such huge campaigns, or will want or be able to create these elaborate sites and storylines. But not all of the fans are looking for that kind of thing, either. The overall appeal, then, is the direct connection between artist and fan.

So it looks like there’s going to be a second edition of MySpace For Dummies - at least my part of the paperwork is already in. This revision could prove to be very interesting (and time-consuming), as a lot has changed in the social networking world since we first looked at it. A year ago, MySpace ruled the roost. Now, other sites are gaining some traction (most notably Facebook), so we have to re-evaluate the site both in terms of what it offers on its own and what’s available at other locations. We’re still quite early in the game on this project.

I spent most of Sunday playing around with Reason some more (I love the new synth, the new arpeggiator is interesting, and I’m still dealing with the lane controls - they’re a little frustrating) - I REALLY want to start using this live. I also entertained “Metalocalypse”-inspired thoughts of joining a metal band. But only briefly.

Finally, the Steelers are 4-1 heading into a bye week. This gives me both hope for the rest of the season and a break from cursing at my computer as it brings me oft-corrected updates on the game. I like this.