Well, apparently if you speak loudly enough on the web with enough swear words, Apple does listen. After initially rejecting an update to Nine Inch Nails’ iPhone app, Apple has relented and accepted it back into the store. So what did NIN do to change the app? Nothing. Apparently, Apple’s definition of “objectionable” changed.
NIN frontman Trent Reznor tweeted out the good news earlier and poked fun at Apple’s uneven app approval process. “The NIN iPhone app is unchanged, the “issues” seem to have been resolved,” Reznor joked. This follows his profanity-laced tirade over the weekend in which he ripped Apple’s ridiculous app approval policies. And rightfully so.
So it’s all’s well that ends well, I guess. At least until the next App Store rejection. In the meantime, I thought it might be appropriate to post the lyrics to NIN’s “Happiness In Slavery”:
slave screams he thinks he knows what he wants
slave screams thinks he has something to say
slave screams he hears but doesn’t want to listen
slave screams he’s being beat into submissiondon’t open your eyes you won’t like what you see
the devils of truth steal the souls of the free
don’t open your eyes take it from me
I have found
you can find
happiness in slaveryslave screams he spends his life learning conformity
slave screams he claims he has his own identity
slave screams he’s going to cause the system to fall
slave screams but he’s glad to be chained to that walldon’t open your eyes you won’t like what you see
the blind have been blessed with security
don’t open your eyes take it from me
I have found
you can find
happiness in slaveryI don’t know what I am I don’t know where I’ve been
human junk just words and so much skin
stick my hands through the cage of this endless routine
just some flesh caught in this big broken machine
first sentence should read “speak loud enough”
yep thx.
I’m sure your parents are none too pleased you’re endorsing this, seeing as they worked overtime to keep you pure as a tween.
Peer pressure at the corporate level. The fear of “looking uncool” made manifest. For a company like Apple that thrives on it’s “cool” image, this is something that probably was discussed in the CEO’s office. Sounds like the plot of a 1970’s Disney movie. Rock and roll!
Sadly, we (my indie label client and my company) are not NIN. We got rejected today over profanity. Scrub the videos and make nice!
Also, Apple seems to have a problem with music embedded in applications. User experience be damned! Our fragile minds have problems grasping the difference between an application and the iTMS!
It was difficult enough to get labels to trust the technology and Apple. Now, we have requests to port the applications to Android, but as Trent articulates, the experience is wanting.
Is anybody from Android listening? We have a product that labels want. Help us accomplish this.
Why is this such a difficult question to answer?
Really? The last post on this subject mentioned that he had, in fact, removed the offending content.
The content was accessible online through the app, not part of the app itself.
Still so, maybe they put it back, and if they didn’t, nothing stops them from putting it back now.
Yes, that’s what I recall. I imagine Apple would take a dim view of such a move. It would be like trojaning the app.
Anyway, hardly correct to say nothing changed in that case.
Right, the developer said they were removing the downward spiral from the servers — but that of course didn’t change the app at all. not sure if that actually went down or not — it would seem that apple just realized this was not a good position to take.
Doubt it. They just took that position with us.
What? Changing the content doesn’t change the app? That’s a wierd way of looking at things, and certainly not the way Apple was looking at it when they rejected the app in the first place.
Also, Apple very rarely backs down on any position, no matter how stupid. So I think Reznor is declaring a false victory on this one.
False Victory? He provided pressure, and threatened to give the app to the jailbreakers. Of which I am one, and have to be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing this app, with no filters in the Cydia store. Apple caved, more or less.
I just updated and everything seems the same. Crapple needs to do a better job in the approval process. The baby shaker app can get approved but NIN cant? Boggles the mind.
Hey gamer/hater/PC egoists, what about the new age-based rating system announced recently? Isn’t that likely the reason the app is now approved?
No.
Does every one of your comments begin with the hater spiel? It’s tiring and trite.
If you’re famous you get special treatment by Apple. Meanwhile my app sits in the queue on its third go around.
I’m just tickled that TC is so openly NIN-friendly. Warms an old, unrepentant fanboy’s heart.
Pretty ridiculous that Apple would cave in to a group like NIN. Yeah, they may be famous, but in the midst of things if they are just going to shoot back with ridicule after you help them, what is the point? Not great publicity there.