Whatever your opinion of his music, Trent Reznor has always been at the forefront when it comes to the rights of artists and fans. His credibility continues to build now that he has (finally) come out against the merger of Ticketmaster and the resulting higher prices for music fans. Reznor went step by step through the story that has been covered everywhere Prefix to the New York Times. Basically, now that Ticketmaster and LiveNation are one entity, it's only a matter of time before the charade of the secondary ticket market is replaced with the charade of "competitive pricing." Reznor refers to the process as legalized scalping, and outlines how in the past Nine Inch Nails skirted the issue by selling seats reserved for the secondary market directly to fans and then requiring identification at the door. While this is a cumbersome process, it at least allowed some actual fans to purchse tickets without the involvement of a middleman. This practice, however unwieldy, will probably go away because of the merger and the implentation of bidding for the best seats. And to add insult to injury, Nine Inch Nails will be forced to use Live Nation venues for their upcoming tour because the company has eliminated most of the local competition. As many musicians and fans are about to find out, it's simply the only game in town. [Stereogum]