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Apple Rejects Nine Inch Nails iPhone App
Posted by
timothy
on Sat May 02, 2009 09:57 PM
from the you-must-be-this-tall-and-this-melodic dept.
from the you-must-be-this-tall-and-this-melodic dept.
jarrettwold2002 writes "Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails announced via his Twitter account today, 'Apple rejects the NIN iPhone update because it contains objectionable content. The objectionable content referenced is "The Downward Spiral."' The initial NIN Access iPhone app garnered much fanfare (Wired article, Guardian article) and was approved by Apple. The update has been rejected due to an album reference. If Nine Inch Nails is having problems with censorship and approval what kind of problems are you having with the iPhone app approval process?"
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gyrogeerloose writes "According to MacRumors, NIN's iPhone application has been approved. Trent Reznor has reported via his Twitter account that the now-approved app was resubmitted without modification, which suggests that Apple reconsidered their initial rejection. This should really come as no surprise to anyone who follows Apple news since it follows the company's typical pattern of handing potentially controversial iPhone apps, especially when it concerns high-profile rejections."
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Gee. (Score:5, Funny)
Looking at his Twitter feed, who woulda thought that Trent would be such a boring twit?
Oh, so THAT'S how it got its name.
What the hell?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple sells The Downward Spiral on iTunes!
Apple is starting to sound like Sony, where two (or more) competing ideologies threaten to drag the entire company down. Jobs needs to issue a set of objective, fair guidelines that apply across ALL content Apple sells on ALL of its storefronts. And yes, those guidelines need to come from His Steveness Himself, so that random lackeys in the App Store aren't left making judgment calls on the company's strategic direction.
This really is pretty outrageous; if you've seen the advance publicity for the NIN app, you'd probably agree that it was looking impressive as hell.
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:4, Insightful)
Starting? Apple has always been a DRM peddling big-media supporter, it's just that the honeymoon period they had with fanboys distracted everyone from this fact. Now that the novelty of shiny white gadgets is wearing off, perhaps we'll start seeing a bit more objectivity and a little less worshipful adoration from Jobs' zealots.
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, after years of selling you DRM-infested music, Apple was one of the first* to ask to be able to sell without DRM so that they could re-sell you the same music, thus milking you for every penny as the GP said.
*By "one of the first", I mean "third or fourth out of the six or seven large downloadable music stores". EMusic [emusic.com], Amazon [amazon.com] and others all offered DRM-free music before the Apple iTunes store.
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:5, Insightful)
iTunes has some songs tagged as adult content; I'm sure Spiral qualifies. On the other hand, the app store doesn't which explains this "paradox" up to first-order.
The obvious question is why the app store doesn't have an adult content section. The answer is pure politics; just calling something "adult software" (or even admitting you stock such things) has a stink of "low-art" about it: crude S&M games or masturbatory aids. On the other hand, "adult content" in music typically just means that you maybe don't want a 12 year old listening to it. Your adult friends typically wouldn't hide their NIN, but they'd hide their copy of rapelay [boingboing.net].
And, an accurate label like "non-adult software containing/accessing music which would be labeled `adult content'" is too risky for Apple to feed its users, who might well just read it as "adult software". Sad but true: 90% would, left alone, ignore it; 5% would be in the niche; and (of course) 5% would raise holy hell about how Apple is going to start selling porn-games and rile up the 90%. It's more un-Apple than putting EQ levers or a microphone on an iPod; just icky and won't happen.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What the hell?! (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:5, Interesting)
If every band or artist can just make a ssl like front end on their 'web page' in the phone, then its pure profit back to them.
Its like a concert in your pocket, small payment out for software, music as content back. The fans love it as *every* cent goes back to the person they adore. Exclusive content and a degree closer to the band.
Apple then becomes a packet pusher that can be replaced with any device with a chip.
A netbook in your pocket.
A 16:9 lcd, an audio chip, some encryption and networking?
Very easy to find, then add Linux or some other off the shelf OS.
The final step is to get the artists to build their own plugin gui.
Out source that to the fans calling it a 'contest' with great prizes
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:4, Informative)
That novelty band, Presidents of the United States of America, already has a streaming music app: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/02/bands-bypass-itunes-by-streaming-music-through-iphone-apps.ars [arstechnica.com]
Most fans don't care about where their money goes; have no inclination to design artwork for you; and might be a little confused about why your app wants their credit card number.
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:5, Interesting)
...Most fans don't care about where their money goes; have no inclination to design artwork for you;...
Very true, but keep in mind that although 99% of fans/users/viewers don't contribute a damn thing, it's the 1% "heavy contributors" that create the bulk of user-gen content.
Nielsen 2006, also common sense. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.useit.com/alertbox/imbalanced-contributions-pyramid.gif& [google.com]
For every Slashdot poster, there's 1,000 lurkers.
For every 1,000 fans who won't lift a finger, there will be 1 who will contribute.
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:5, Informative)
That novelty band, Presidents of the United States of America, already has a streaming music app: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/02/bands-bypass-itunes-by-streaming-music-through-iphone-apps.ars [arstechnica.com]
The Presidents of the United States of America isn't a novelty band.
Most fans don't care about where their money goes; have no inclination to design artwork for you; and might be a little confused about why your app wants their credit card number.
Most fans. Nine Inch Nails fans are not most fans.
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:5, Informative)
Nine Inch Nails fans have allowed Trent to leave the studio system behind, some of us even pay for the free content, like Ghosts I-IV and The Slip.
I do it because if I like an artist I want what the artist comes up with, not what the studio says the artist needs to produce to make something marketable. Hell I do it even if I normally don't like the artist because I want the artists to move to self production and dissemination. Jill Sobule [jillsnextrecord.com] and Saul Williams [wikipedia.org] have released Studio-less discs.
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:4, Insightful)
Just being a touch pedantic here, but Trent does indeed record his music in a recording studio -- it's just probably one he built himself, such as Le Pig Studios [wikipedia.org]. What he doesn't have any more is a major record label -- he now releases under his own label, The Null Corporation.
Aikon-
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
They have complete control of the App Store. There's absolutely nothing stopping them from forcing developers to rate their apps for intended audience, much like the TV ratings (Y, Y7, 14, MA, with the D,S,L,V flags) or video games. It allows them to still disallow outright porn while flagging potentially-offensive software appropriately.
Re:What the hell?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Um, how do you suppose they got to be moms in the first place?
and, I don't understand how its 'inflammatory'? It is crude but hey, thats what immature is all about..
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:4, Insightful)
It is crude but hey, thats what immature is all about..
That is not a song about sex; it is a song about alienation and loneliness, and using sex as a replacement for real spiritual closeness, even when we know that's what we're doing.
Sorry. Rabid NIN fan. And I am an adult. Speaking from the standpoint of someone who (unfortunately) has a BA in literature, and therefore has spent a lot of time pulling art apart, I would suggest that the reason for Reznor's continued success and dedicated fanbase spanning a couple generations now is that his work very well may be crude, but it is always honest, and is never immature. To be honest, his lyrics are kind of flattening out (while his music gets better and better--normal for pop musicians, I think), but the guy knows how to express himself poetically.
Back to the topic at hand, however, I understand Apple's position to a certain extent, after the whole baby-shaking incident, but... come on. This is one of the most successful bands of the 1990s, which is still touring sold-out arena shows today. He's pretty mainstream at this point, especially since most of us who got into NIN in the early 90s have kids of our own now. I don't, but if I did, I'd be stoked if he/she got into NIN when he/she was old enough to get it. With my luck, and the way kids turn out, though, they'd probably get into Phish or something (shudder) --oh well, at least Phish knows how to play and does a great show.
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We're shakin' a baby now (Score:5, Funny)
I understand Apple's position to a certain extent, after the whole baby-shaking incident, but
Does this mean "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles, with lyrics misheard as "We're shakin' a baby now", won't go on iTunes Store?
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see how its at all relevant
You need to be an adult to sign the contract for your shiny new iPhone, also to have a credit card to pay for things at the App store, and to top it all, this app is presumably only of interest to Nine Inch Nails fans who, get this, already listened to their explicit music which is in fact available from iTunes?
Actually, I have no idea if any of that is true since I don't have an iPhone and am not able to run the software to access their marketplace..
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Re:What the hell?! (Score:4, Interesting)
Hey, do you like the rolling stones? Ever listened to the words from "sparks will fly" (I know you'd recognize it, it's on the radio all the time)?
"You'd better grease up
I'm coming back
You're going to catch fire
(....)
You'd better grease up
I'm coming back
You're going to catch fire
(...)
When I finally get myself back on you, baby
I'm gonna step on the gas
I want to get there really fast
I want to fuck your sweet ass"
Never noticed that a popular classic rock song is about anal sex? Pay more attention. Rock and roll is ALWAYS about sex on one level or another.
Relax. If you want to go after someone, go after Britney or the dozens of singers *explicitly packaged for children* but with songs about lust and fucking. That is, to me, way more screwed up than NIN. How are you supposed to keep that Disney sex shit away from your kids when it is blasting on the media meant for kids? Ask any parent if they know the lyrics to any flo-rida song.
-b
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Apple's prerogative (Score:4, Insightful)
New NIN single: Steve f*ckers, Inc. (Score:5, Insightful)
Or he will write a song about Apple. Knowing Trent's material, Apple better hope he just moves on, because I doubt they will want to license it for a commercial...
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Re:New NIN single: Steve f*ckers, Inc. (Score:4, Funny)
No problem. Microsoft will.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Trent Reznor has been a Mac user [audiohead.net] and evangelist [macuser.com] for the better part of two decades.
His use of Macs go back to "Pretty Hate Machine" and an old Mac Plus.
And now they've pissed him off. Bad idea. S
Re:New NIN single: Steve f*ckers, Inc. (Score:4, Insightful)
He didn't already write a song about Apple? I wonder what "Happiness in Slavery" is really about then.
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TFA? (Score:4, Insightful)
No problems at all (Score:3, Insightful)
With jailbreaking it, I don't have problems at all. I can write my own programs using free software, upload them without paying $150 to access my own device, and share them with my friends. I can do a lot more than Apple would let me in their walled garden. The only question is how soon untill mainstream companies/groups like NIN release their promotional apps on the distribution channels for jailbroken iPhones.
A more interesting question (Score:3, Interesting)
Is anyone really surprised with another Apple rejection on dubious grounds? Perhaps the real message is that Apple design their products for good church going people who would rather vote Democrat than see anything with a little adult content. The way I see it, is that there are a LOT more "adult" users who would rather have the choice of content, even if they wouldn't consume it themselves. This means that Apple are seemingly intentionally cutting themselves off from that spending power.
We complain rightly about government treating us like children, making our decisions for us with little right of reply, yet it seems if you stick a flashy interface on it and apply some PR brainwashing it's all good and dandy.
For the Apple fanbois, feel free to mod me down for speaking ill of the almighty......the power of Jobs compels thee.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This conservative mindset ... seem content to have all their censored for their own good
Indeed.
OK, let's put "The Greatest Nigger Jokes of All Time.app" up on the store and see how cool liberals are with it.
Oh, wait, the liberal mindset "like to live in a bubble where the real world does not enter" and "seem content to have all their censored for their own good" too?
Funny, that...
Re:A more interesting question (Score:5, Insightful)
It's really, really sad that in this country refraining from calling people niggers is a thing that automatically makes you a liberal.
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Mistake on Apple's part (Score:5, Insightful)
Fuck any platform where the vendor must approve... (Score:5, Interesting)
Fuck any platform where the vendor must approve content. (In this case that means fuck Apple, which immediately means I get modded up and down until the fanboi zealots are the only ones modding and I end up with a -1).
We've seen open platforms dwindle in past years. PC gaming is in decline. Most consoles need all manner of hack and mod to run home brew content. Hell even GPS APIs (like TomToms) have been discontinued on newer models. We've gone from a society of tinkerers where the best idea wins to an increasingly IP law based profit model that stiffles innovation.
Hell I don't even understand why objectionable content needs to be censored like this. For the most part don't buy it if you're offended. For the truely heinous stuff like that shake a baby to death iPhone app that was in the news lately, existing laws should be brought to bear if applicable. ...and you know what? I say this knowing that I fucking can't stand NIN music. As far as I'm concerned the only thing close to being any good they ever did was Closer, and that sold more on novelty and shock factor (and as a shagging song) than anything else.
Re:Fuck any platform where the vendor must approve (Score:5, Funny)
Fuck any platform ...
... like an animal?
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Re:Fuck any platform where the vendor must approve (Score:4, Insightful)
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Enough Already (Score:5, Interesting)
I am sick and tired of articles like this, where the developing community has surrendered to Apple the rights to veto apps, for pretty much any reason, that they no doubt worked hard on, as well as giving Apple the ability to retroactively change their minds and kill apps on paying customer's phones. Why is is so acceptable for Apple to do this, when it clearly is not acceptable in the PC* world? Why do developers put up with this kind of draconian control by a third party over their own apps?
I for one can't stand it. To all developers of the iPhone, please stop developing for the iPhone. Hit Apple where it really hurts and develop for Android (not on the Market), the Freerunner, or pretty much any other platform instead, where you don't have to appease some entity that really needs you more than you need it. Don't just make an app that needs jailbreaking, as this still targets the iPhone and consequently still gives Apple more revenue and more power to control developers. If Apple insists on this kind of control, let them get their comeuppance.
*Note by "PC" I mean microcomputers, not Windows machines.
Re:Enough Already (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Enough Already (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe if those other platforms you mentioned had sdks and documentation nearly as nice. I've developed for blackberry, and for android, and it's a crapshoot.
How about Windows Mobile [microsoft.com]?
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Re:Enough Already (Score:4, Insightful)
This is such a farce, you need to read a little deeper than the glossy "gold rush" articles. there have been a very *small* number of people who got lucky and struck it rich, but as in all gold rushes, there are now so many people trying to get theirs, that the app store has become a wasteland clusterfuck of shitty me2 apps. Now, like everywhere else in life, you have to a) have a good application b) have good marketing c) have some luck to make money with iphone apps.
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No censorship on andriod. (Score:3, Insightful)
I wouldn't mind having the app on my gphone.
Just more proof... (Score:3, Insightful)
that no matter how hard Apple argues it, they're just as bad as Microsoft.
So much for that Hip "artist" Apple Image. (Score:5, Insightful)
iTunes sells Trent Reznors Music but wont distribute his App?
HUH?
Shouldnt Apple be giving the big "DUH" on this. What the fuck is Apple thinking?
I thought Apple was the "artist" friendly computer platform. You know that image they try to sell us on, using that hip "Mac guy"...
BEGIN SCENE
MAC GUY: "Hey PC, I'm a MAC, I dress like an artist, but really I'm just another fake image driven sock puppet for an evil corporation"
PC GUY: "Boy, I sure know how what it feels"
FADE TO WHITE
Apple.. Think What We Allow You To.
END SCENE.
Apple really has changed over the years. Its a very snobby platform for so called "artists". I find it histerical when I see college students thinking they MUST get a MAC if they will ever be an artist. Its just embarrasing. As if a platform makes you talented... If only it were that easy.
Image is everything, and Apple really needs to change direction and stop censoring song titles on itunes, and stop censoring applications. Simply have parenting mode settings in Itunes. Thats all you need. Let the parent decide what is right for their children. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY... Let us ADULTS choose what is right for us.
Oh and btw to you snobby college students that think you're artists because you just bought a Mac. You're wrong :) 95% of todays blockbuster films are made with windows pcs and linux pcs running various kinds of special fx software. Photography is done on both platforms but windows users out number mac users by a far.
Music? Sure... Protools for the Mac... of course! No wait... How about Nuendo for the PC? :) Far better.
Final Cut? ok you got us. :P
Hey will still have avid though... and the entire 3d animation industry.
Re:So much for that Hip "artist" Apple Image. (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh and btw to you snobby college students that think you're artists because you just bought a Mac.
I bought a Mac because at the time it was the most powerful machine packed into the thinnest and lightest package (so it fits in my backpack nicely) with the longest batter span.
That was two years ago. Nowadays I'd buy a Mac because having dropped it a lot I've come to appreciate the aluminium case and I do believe it's still the best battery life for a laptop with a graphics card that has its own memory ... plus the touchpads are just bloody awesome.
Art has nothing to do with it, it's just a better (portable) computer
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Artist friendly because originally the best software for art & music ran on Macs first. Or Amigas, for that matter. Obviously that stopped being the case by the time XP came out, since PCs had caught up in terms of hardware and the Windows audience was over 90% and certainly not worth ignoring.
But you know that Pro Tools is released for PC as well, right? And that Adobe, as well as everyone else, treats the platforms more or less equally these days?
These are platforms that people get actual work on, thi
Trent's philosophy doesn't match with Apple's (Score:5, Interesting)
Trent Reznor is the artist with the most tech savvy attitude on the planet, at least as far as popular acts go. He currently has no record label contract and surely will never again have one, he has released music for free (as in beer), and has released music under the CC license, allowing fans to freely share and remix it. He has leaked his own material (the Broken Movie and the Closure DVD) to The Pirate Bay to overcome legal entanglements, because he wanted his music out there for people to hear. Like his music or not or not, you have to give him some credit for breaking out of the mainstream and proving the old record label system of doing things is not a necessity and can be overcome.
His attitudes resonate with a lot of us here on /. and I wouldn't be surprised if he is a member of this site.
Apple should reconsider... Trent has probably made the majority of his music on Apple computers, so he is a highly visible user of their products, not just "some musician". They should have embraced the marketing opportunity presented here.
I hope Trent shuns them for this... Apple's control freak attitude does not match with Trent's embrace of freedom, in both the monetary and the speech sense of the word. I say he is a trailblazer, the first big artist of the post RIAA/copyright dominated world. The first artist of the 21st century and the digital information age.
seems to be a common story (Score:5, Interesting)
There was a piece on G4TV [g4tv.com] a while back about a game [persuasivegames.com] parodying airport security policies. While you might think Apple objected to the concept itself, they rejected it instead for "inappropriate sexual content", without telling the developer what specifically they objected to, leaving him rather confused since the game wasn't sexually explicit at all. It turned out, after some months of guessing and resubmission and trying to contact people, that what had offended Apple was the inclusion of items like underwire bras (which are notorious for setting off metal detectors).
Amazing.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
should artists get paid for what they do? sure, but everyone wants to eliminate the middleman. if you cant find a good reason for peop
Re:I own a record store. (Score:5, Funny)
Oh my. The Christians are pirating music?
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Re:I own a record store. (Score:4, Funny)
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