October 8, 2007

Nine Inch Nails Leave Universal

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mojo-photo-nintrent.jpgAfter Radiohead announced last week it would sell variably-priced digital copies of its new album through the band’s own website, without the help of a record label, many predicted this would be the death knell for the music industry, since any artist with an established following could easily follow this model. Well, apparently another shoe has dropped: as expected, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor has posted a message on his official website that he has left Universal and is now a “free agent, free of any recording contract with any label.” Reznor has been outspoken in criticizing his label and has even encouraged fans to download the music illegally, so the move comes as no real surprise.

Thom Yorke and Trent Reznor: two idiosyncratic, anti-establishment musicians whose always-tenuous relationships to the music industry have just now reached a logical conclusion, or the leaders of an inevitable and snowballing trend that will turn the entertainment industry upside down? All eyes on inrainbows.com this Wednesday…

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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