THE NIN HOTLINE

Friday April 11, 2003

Goodbye Vivendi, Hello Apple?

While this isn't necessarily directly related to Nine Inch Nails, it is probably still worth noting, considering the companies involved. According to this Washington Post article, Apple is considering buying Universal Music Group from the current owner, French Utility company Vivendi.

Currently, Nothing Records is part of Interscope Records which falls under Vivendi/Universal. Ever since Interscope sold off to Universal and Universal was bought out by Vivendi, severe cuts have been made to artists under those labels - even successful ones - based on pretty hard by-the-numbers accounting practices that simply doesn't account for a lot of the quirks of global music distribution. It's no secret that NIN likes Apple and Apple likes NIN. On top of that, Apple is very much artist-oriented. Who knows what's to happen, but you can't help but speculate that if this goes through, it'll be good for anyone who frequently visits this page ;)