After some delays from Universal Trent Reznor has launched remix.nin.com. Create, share, download, and listen to thousands of NIN remixes in this new community of user-generated creativity.
From the mix page of the site:
To expand the concept of the “remix record” we’ve decided to give you the tools to experiment with the remix process yourself. Included on this site are a variety of Nine Inch Nails songs available for download as multitrack audio files. They are available in some or all of the following formats:
- Garageband for Mac (works with Logic as well).
- Ableton Live for PC or Mac (free demo available here).
- Generic wave files at 16 bit 44k for any audio editor.
An explanation:
In the studio, we record everything in a multitrack format, separating all the parts onto different “tracks” that can be manifested individually. These tracks are then mixed down to two tracks – left and right (stereo) – that arrive to you in the form of a CD or MP3. We’re giving you all of the individual multitracks that were used to create the stereo ones you know. By loading those tracks into the appropriate multitrack application of your choice, you can remix and manipulate the original parts to your liking.
On a Mac, Garageband is the easiest way to check the process out. Simply load a song and hit the space bar – then start pushing buttons and see what happens. Ableton Live is an application that we use a lot for composing. It runs on Mac and PC so we’ve offered some songs in that format for your convenience. The generic wave files are included for those who use any other program that can load wave files (which should be all of them, Mac or PC).
Click “Download Multitracks” above to get the files and start playing around. Multitracks of every song from Year Zero in Garageband, Ableton, and wave formats are included on the CD/DVD version of Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.
When you have a mix ready to go, click on “Upload Remix” above to add it to the site.
There are currently 9 NIN and 2 Saul Williams multitracks. Trent recently produced Saul Williams’ album Niggy Tardust, which is free on niggytardust.com
Below is Trent’s blog entry about the legal trouble with Universal.
- Several years ago I persuaded my record company to let me begin posting my master recording files on nin.com, in order to see what kind of user-generated content would materialize from my music. I had no agenda… the main reason I did it was because I thought it was cool and something I would have liked to do if it was available to me. A lot of really fun stuff started to happen….communities developed, web sites were created, even traditional radio got in the game and began playing the fans’ mixes. I felt the experiment, despite not having a specific purpose, was a success. So much so that we’re now releasing a remix album that includes some of this fan-created material as well as the actual multitrack master files for every song from my latest record, Year Zero.One piece was missing to me and that was an official nin.com presence for aggregating all of the fan-created remixes. Several intrepid fans had stepped up and done a great job providing a destination for people to post these, but I felt all along this was a function I should more directly support. So, upon release of this new remix album, our plan has been to launch an official site on nin.com that would provide a place for all fan remix material and other interactive fan experiences.Or so I thought.On Saturday morning I became aware of a legal hitch in our plans. My former record company and current owner of all these master files, Universal, is currently involved in a lawsuit with other media titans Google (YouTube) and News Corp (MySpace). Universal is contending that these sites do not have what is referred to as “safe harbor” under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and therefore are in copyright violation because users have uploaded music and video content that is owned by Universal. Universal feels that if they host our remix site, they will be opening themselves up to the accusation that they are sponsoring the same technical violation of copyright they are suing these companies for. Their premise is that if any fan decides to remix one of my masters with material Universal doesn’t own – a “mash-up”, a sample, whatever – and upload it to the site, there is no safe harbor under the DMCA (according to Universal) and they will be doing exactly what MySpace and YouTube are doing. This behavior may get hauled out in court and impact their lawsuit. Because of this they no longer will host our remix site, and are insisting that Nine Inch Nails host it. In exchange for this they will continue to let me upload my Universal masters and make them available to fans, BUT shift the liability of hosting them to me. Part of the arrangement is having user licenses that the fans sign (not unlike those on MySpace or You Tube) saying they will not use unauthorized materials. If they WERE to do such a thing, everybody sues everybody and the world abruptly ends.
While I am profoundly perturbed with this stance as content owners continue to stifle all innovation in the face of the digital revolution, it is consistent with what they have done in the past. So… we are challenged at the last second to find a way of bringing this idea to life without getting splashed by the urine as these media companies piss all over each other’s feet. We have a cool and innovative site ready to launch but we’re currently scratching our heads as to how to proceed.
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