The New York Times has reported that in a strange and unusual twist, Apple's iPhone will not carry the Nine Inch Nails application. The company cites rejecting the app because it offers a streaming version of the tune "The Downward Spiral," which contains "objectionable content."
Trent Reznor posted the emailed information on the Nine Inch Nails website, along with a response to their statement. In it, he shares his adoration for Apple products and appeals to the company to "think your policies through," rightfully utilizing an example.
"I'll voice the same issue I had with Wal-Mart years ago, which is a matter of consistency and hypocrisy," he writes. "Wal-Mart went on a rampage years ago insisting all music they carry be censored of all profanity and 'clean' versions be made for them to carry. Bands (including Nirvana) tripped over themselves editing out words, changing album art, etc. to meet Wal-Mart's standards of decency - because Wal-Mart sells a lot of records. NIN refused, and you'll notice a pretty empty NIN section at any Wal-Mart."
"My reasoning was this," he continues. "I can understand if you want the moral posturing of not having any 'indecent' material for sale - but you could literally turn around 180 degrees from where the NIN record would be and purchase the film Scarface completely uncensored, or buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto where you can be rewarded for beating up prostitutes. How does that make sense? You can buy The Downward Fucking Spiral on iTunes, but you can't allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it. Geez, what if someone in the forum in our app says FUCK or CUNT? I suppose that also falls into indecent material. Hey, Apple, I just got some SPAM about fucking hot Asian teens THROUGH YOUR MAIL PROGRAM. I just saw two guys having explicit anal sex right there in Safari! On my iPhone! Come on, Apple, think your policies through and for fuck's sake get your app approval scenario together."
Digging deeper, Billboard.biz reveals that there are separate standards for Apple applications such as iPhone and iTunes. Losing the technical jargon, the iPhone "standard" states that: "Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgement (sic) may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users."
Exactly why this is so/different than other applications has yet to be revealed but suffice to say that Apple's iTunes standards are far less stringent.
Trent Reznor posted the emailed information on the Nine Inch Nails website, along with a response to their statement. In it, he shares his adoration for Apple products and appeals to the company to "think your policies through," rightfully utilizing an example.
"I'll voice the same issue I had with Wal-Mart years ago, which is a matter of consistency and hypocrisy," he writes. "Wal-Mart went on a rampage years ago insisting all music they carry be censored of all profanity and 'clean' versions be made for them to carry. Bands (including Nirvana) tripped over themselves editing out words, changing album art, etc. to meet Wal-Mart's standards of decency - because Wal-Mart sells a lot of records. NIN refused, and you'll notice a pretty empty NIN section at any Wal-Mart."
"My reasoning was this," he continues. "I can understand if you want the moral posturing of not having any 'indecent' material for sale - but you could literally turn around 180 degrees from where the NIN record would be and purchase the film Scarface completely uncensored, or buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto where you can be rewarded for beating up prostitutes. How does that make sense? You can buy The Downward Fucking Spiral on iTunes, but you can't allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it. Geez, what if someone in the forum in our app says FUCK or CUNT? I suppose that also falls into indecent material. Hey, Apple, I just got some SPAM about fucking hot Asian teens THROUGH YOUR MAIL PROGRAM. I just saw two guys having explicit anal sex right there in Safari! On my iPhone! Come on, Apple, think your policies through and for fuck's sake get your app approval scenario together."
Digging deeper, Billboard.biz reveals that there are separate standards for Apple applications such as iPhone and iTunes. Losing the technical jargon, the iPhone "standard" states that: "Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgement (sic) may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users."
Exactly why this is so/different than other applications has yet to be revealed but suffice to say that Apple's iTunes standards are far less stringent.