Trent Reznor Is Working On A Top Secret Apple Project

Trent Reznor is working on a top secret project with Apple, which he details in an interview with Billboard's Joe Levy.

The Nine Inch Nails frontman was reportedly chief creative officer at Beats Music, the music arm of Beats Electronics, before Apple bought the company this year.

Reznor told Billboard he thinks owning music is on the way out and streaming will become the norm soon.

Here's what he said about his new role as an Apple employee:

It's related to that. Beats was bought by Apple, and they expressed direct interest in me designing some products with them. I can't go into details, but I feel like I'm in a unique position where I could be of benefit to them. That does mean some compromises in terms of how much brain power goes toward music and creating. This is very creative work that's not directly making music, but it's around music.

Apple's reputation for secrecy extends to its celebrity employees, too.

That said, Reznor says he's "designing some products" for Apple, which sounds promising, though it's unclear if he's referring to hardware or software.

Billboard asked Reznor if his new project had to do with music delivery, which he seemed to confirm:

It's in that world. It's exciting to me, and I think it could have a big enough impact that it's worth the effort. I'm fully in it right now, and it's challenging, and it's unfamiliar and it's kind of everything I asked for - and the bad thing is it's everything I asked for.

Whatever Reznor is working on, it will likely debut as part of iTunes, not Beats Music. The music-streaming service will become part of iTunes next year.