Nine Inch Nails

NINE INCH NAILS leader Trent Reznor has posted the following message on the band's official web site:

"As the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more. A couple of examples that quickly come to mind:

• The ABSURD retail pricing of 'Year Zero' in Australia. Shame on you, UMG. 'Year Zero' is selling for $34.99 Australian dollars ($29.10 US). No wonder people steal music. AVRIL LAVIGNE's record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US).

"By the way, when I asked a label rep about this his response was: 'It's because we know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out — you know, true fans. It's the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy.' So... I guess as a reward for being a 'true fan' you get ripped off.

• The dreaded EURO maxi-single. Nothing but a consumer rip-off that I've been talked into my whole career. No more.

"The point is, I am trying my best to make sure the music and items NIN puts in the marketplace have value, substance and are worth you considering purchasing. I am not allowing Capital G to be repackaged into several configurations that result in you getting ripped off.

"We are planning a full-length remix collection of substance that will be announced soon."