Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (NIN) is experiencing a sticky wicket. Years ago, he got his record company (Universal) to allow him to post his master recordings on the NIN website so that fans could remix the music any way they liked. It was a grand experiment and worked very well, according to Reznor. The result is a new version of Year Zero called Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D, which includes the master files from the original Year Zero and remixes from fans. The new album was released today, but the sticky wicket is that Universal won’t allow NIN to release the website that accompanies the album. Universal’s argument is that it would be breaking the very copyright rules it is suing Google and News Corp over. While Reznor is no longer with Universal, the company claims ownership of the master files. (Why they couldn’t have thought of this before allowing NIN to post the master files in the first place is beyond me.)

Universal has given NIN one option – host the masters as a band and take all the liability for copyright infringement. The company also wants NIN’s fans to sign user licenses wherein they agree not to use unauthorized materials. It’s not much of an option as far as Reznor is concerned and he and the band are trying to figure out a better solution.

The last time I checked the NIN website (two seconds ago), the comment count was up to 502. Amidst the swear words thrown at Universal, there are some well-thought suggestions. I have long been interested in copyright, both from the standpoint of being a writer and artist, and from the standpoint of protecting the copyright of others as a museum manager. To say this situation is difficult would be an understatement. The trouble all started when a legal clerk, with a few strokes of a pen, gave corporations the same rights as individuals in this country. Since then, corporations have lobbied strong and hard to write laws that benefit them over the rights of individuals. Copyright is one of those laws that favors corporations.

The best solution in this case, though the hardest to bear for NIN and fans, may be to let the website go. Let Universal have its masters. Now that the band is free of Universal’s control, Reznor & company can write their own rules for any new music and masters they create. Rather than waste its creative energies on fighting against a corporation, the band can turn its energy to making something new and posting it as it likes.

Creativity, like love, is a limitless resource. No matter what the band decides about its website, the music will continue, as will the band’s innovative approach to copyright issues.

NIN website with Trent Reznor’s letter*

*This appears to be a blog without an archive, so once this post disappears, you won’t be able to read it here. Instead, go to Wired magazine’s website, where they’ve posted Reznor’s letter in its entirety.