Trent Reznor on Beats Music

Billboard’s Joe Levy posted an interview with Trent Reznor last week, and among various questions he asked about his new role with Beats Music at Apple:

Is it about music delivery?

It’s in that world. It’s exciting to me, and I think it could have a big enough impact that it’s worth the effort. I’m fully in it right now, and it’s challenging, and it’s unfamiliar and it’s kind of everything I asked for – and the bad thing is it’s everything I asked for.

Reznor added that “the right streaming service could solve everybody’s problems”. This isn’t the first time Reznor has expressed his thoughts on how a music streaming platform could go beyond the traditional feature set of streaming services. From an interview with USA Today in January:

“We’re going to offer artists metrics in terms of where their music is being consumed in the service, we’ll allow artists to curate their own pages, and in general provide a friendly place where artists can make fans aware of T-shirts or concert tickets, and consumers can learn more about music and culture,” says Reznor, who in particular is excited about being able to present his true face to fans.

“Not to throw stones at Spotify, because I know those guys, but on their site, I sit behind an impenetrable wall,” he says. “I’ve got an old bio, old photos and a discography with some bootlegs. I feel like I’m walking into a mall record shop and my little area has the wrong picture of me and the catalog stinks.”

It’s unclear if and when Apple will introduce new artist or listener features in Beats Music. According to recent speculation from Re/Code, Apple is looking to cut the $10 monthly fee of Beats Music with an overhaul planned for next year.