Object

Object logo

J. Artist Management Merchandise, Inc. ("JAMM") (dba Object) was a band merchandise company co-founded by Trent Reznor and John Malm. According to the profile on the company's website: [1]

Object was created in 1989 by nine inch nails' Trent Reznor and his manager John A. Malm, Jr. to create cutting edge, high quality merchandise for nine inch nails' fans. Unable to find an existing company that delivered the design and quality that they required, Reznor and Malm created their own artist-oriented merchandise company.

All NIN merchandise through the Fragility tour was handled by JAMM. In 1998, JAMM began doing business as Object. In 2001, they launched a website at objectmerch.com. Object handled merchandising for a number of musical acts over the years, including many of the Nothing Records artists, Fatboy Slim, The Orb, Orbital, The Dandy Warhols, Radiohead, Fun Lovin' Criminals, Jim Rose Circus, New Order, and others. Object periodically created merchandise catalogs for retailers to order stock from, and Rob Sheridan created the cover designs for the 2000, 2002, and 2003 catalogs.

Legal issues

The company was formally incorporated in 1993, jointly owned by Reznor and Malm. According to Malm's sworn testimony, Reznor had wanted to create a merchandising company as early as 1989 because he wanted tighter quality control over products associated with NIN, and the duo intended to evenly split profits derived from sales of merchandise. According to Reznor though, JAMM was created at Malm's suggestion, after Malm told him other merchandising companies were not making good offers, and Reznor never realized the profits would be split evenly, as opposed to Malm collecting his 20 percent commission. [2]

Reznor divested from Object as a result of the 2004 lawsuit against Malm. Object continued to operate through 2013, though in a diminished capacity, and without NIN merchandise.

External Links

Object Fall 1998 Complete Catalog