Trent Reznor on why he left Apple Music, “It felt at odds with the artist in me”

Trent Reznor has opened up about his decision to exit Apple Music.

The Nine Inch Nails frontman originally joined the streaming service Beats Music as the chief creative officer in 2012.

He’d already established a reputation as a tech-savvy innovator who was curious about audio possibilities.

He became part of the Apple Music executive team when the tech giant bought Beats Electronics in 2014

Speaking to Stereogum, Reznor said with atypical forthright honesty:

“…I have a mixed set of feelings about the whole thing. From my own perspective, I got obsessed with trying to crack that code.

“Being stuck on a record label, watching fans get pissed off — watching myself get pissed off at fans and wondering why am I pissed off? ‘Cause they’re listening to my fuckin’ album!

“A week before a plastic disc shows up in the store that no one wants to buy!

“They’re not bootlegging t-shirts or something they’re listening to shit I did and they’re excited about it and I’m doing it too to other bands that I am excited about and I thought, ‘This is broken.

“The whole idea is broken and there’s got to be a better way.

“Apple had been one of those companies that I really looked forward to what they were going to present.

“It’s like Willy Wonka.

“I thought Steve Jobs was a genius and he brought things to the world that I think made significant changes and I looked forward to what was ahead.”

Reznor was in between albums, so he decided to take the plunge, because he didn’t want to ever regret not being part of the Apple experience.

He might have made a name for himself in music as a creative, but he felt that Apple employees were constantly asking what he was doing there.

“It was an eye-opening, incredible amount of work to be dropped into the world of engineers who didn’t want you there,” Reznor said

“I think my awareness that most of that job comes down to product design and marketing and thinking about what the consumer wants felt at odds with the artist in me.”

Simply, he explains, he felt he didn’t fit in the Apple culture.

He’s now back on the road with Nine Inch Nails and getting rave reviews.

After winning an Oscar with NIN bandmate Atticus Ross for their work on The Social Network, their latest soundtrack work – on Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, Mid90s— has just opened in the US.