Trent Reznor sees the NIN: Access app get pulled from the iphone digital store due to “questionable content” from being able to stream The Downward Spiral. and he follows suit on the NIN.com forums: 

“…I’ll voice the same issue I had with Wal-Mart years ago, which is a matter of consistency and hypocrisy. 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: 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. “

I have to agree with the man. the whole point of NIN Access is to link fans together digitally during this upcoming tour and if Apple thinks they can strongarm him into making his application family friendly by forcing it out of their store at the eve of his new tour? they have another thing coming, if you ask me. I can speculate that if they don’t put NIN Access back up on the App Store you’re only going to see one thing on the nin.com homepage: detailed instructions on how to jailbreak your phone and put a blackmarket version of the app on your phone. 

and I get the feeling that may actually be the alternative from his followup post: 

“Everyone – let me be clear. I love Apple products and as goofy and out-of-touch as their app approval process / policy is, I will still use them because they work 1000X better than the competition. This is not a debate, it’s a fact. The iPhone is THE most elegant, modern smartphone at this point in time and it’s perfect for what we want to do with the NIN app – except for the ludicrous approval process, and that’s what I want to draw attention to. 

Android is cool, but nobody has an Android phone. Blackberry is OK but the hardware is inconsistent and WinMo straight-up sucks balls. If Apple doesn’t get it together, we will most certainly make it available to the jailbreak community. I didn’t invest in this app to see it languish on the sidelines from an idiotic policy while this tour is in full swing. “

Now this can get VERY interesting. I’ll be keeping a close eye to what Apple’s retort will be to a man that’s so intertwined with digital music and where it may end up finding itself in the future. 

You can read more about the happenings with NIN:access over at the Nine Inch Nails forums or by following Trent Reznor on Twitter.