(the article originally appeared here )
Following the bust of the OiNK BitTorrent tracker, most of its 180,000 members are keeping their heads down and trying to stay inconspicuous. However, Trent Reznor, frontman of Nine Inch Nails isn’t worried: “I had an account there” he said. “it was like the world’s greatest record store.”
The driving force behind the Nine Inch Nails isn’t frightened of talking about file-sharing. Back in May 2007 he admitted to sharing himself: “I steal music too, I’m not gonna say I don’t” he said.
Now Trent has gone public and admitted where he did a lot of sharing - OiNK.
In an interview with New York Entertainment he sent his clearest pro-sharing stance yet. When asked what he thought about OiNK being shutdown, he had this to say:
“I’ll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world’s greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted.”
Everyone knows that OiNK was free to use and this fact was backed up by Trent: “If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn’t the equivalent of that in the retail space right now.”
Leveling criticism at professionals who are failing to make a better job of music distribution than OiNK and failing to create a brand which people like to be associated with, Trent explained: “iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don’t feel cool when I go there. I’m tired of seeing John Mayer’s face pop up. I feel like I’m being hustled when I visit there, and I don’t think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc.”
Trent says he prefers Amazon to iTunes but says none of them address the issue of pre-release leaks, calling it a ‘difficult puzzle’. “If your favorite band in the world has a leaked record out, do you listen to it or do you not listen to it?”
The quality uploaders at OiNK get a mention too: “People on those boards, they’re grateful for the person that uploaded it — they’re the hero. They’re not stealing it because they’re going to make money off of it; they’re stealing it because they love the band.”
Underlining the fact that sometimes people pirate because they aren’t getting what they want from the music labels, Trent finishes up: “I’m not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want.”
And what people seem to want is OiNK replacement sites - and that’s what they seem to be getting.
Need any invites Trent?
