Trent Reznor reportedly leaves Beats after Apple acquisition, Beats responds

The Nine Inch Nails man hasn’t always been a fan of the new owners…

2nd June 2014

In a post internet age, music news has started to sound more and more like the business pages. So and so has acquired this, that pays out that. No longer are musicians just musicians. Take Trent Reznor for example. Nine Inch Nails, you may scream! Yes, but also; ‘Chief Creative Officer’ of Beats Music.

Or at least , he was. Following the company’s acquisition by Apple, co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine took up executive roles in the new parent company, but according to USA Today, Reznor has packed his bags.

That shouldn’t be too much of a shock. The musicians has previously been critical of Apple - notably in 2009 after iTunes banned Nine Inch Nails’ ‘The Downward Spiral’ app.

“Come on Apple, think your policies through and for fuck’s sake get your app approval scenario together.”

— Trent Reznor

“You can buy ‘The Downward Fucking Spiral’ on iTunes,” he said at the time, “but you can’t allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it … Hey Apple, I just got some spam about fucking hot Asian teens through your e-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.”

Reznor will still have a busy summer, though. As well as scoring David Fincher’s new film ‘Gone Girl’, he’ll be touring with Nine Inch Nails alongside Soundgarden and Death Grips.

Update: A spokesperson for Beats responded by informing Rolling Stone that reports regarding Reznor's departure "are all false".