“I think it’s just an awkward time right now to be a musician. The reality is that people think it’s okay to steal music. There’s a whole generation of people, that’s all they’ve known. I used to buy vinyl. Today, if you do put out a record on a label, traditionally, most people are going to hear it via a leak that happens two weeks—if not two months—before it comes out. There’s no real way around that. I’m truly saddened because I think music has been devalued, so that it’s just a file on your computer, and it’s usually free. But we can’t change that. What we can do is try to offer people the best experience that we can provide them. Will it work? I don’t know. But I think it’s a great way to get music out to people who are interested. At the end of the day, all I care about is the integrity of the music, and that the feeling of those who experience it is as untainted as possible. I’d rather it not be on an iPod commercial. I’d rather it not be a ringtone that you have to get with a free cell phone or any of that bullshit.”
-Trent Reznor, Oct ‘07 New York Magazine
Earlier today, Nine Inch Nails released information about a new album that was ready in totally free DRM mp3 files, a regular 2 CD set, a 4 disc set composed of the two CDs, a DVD and a Blu-Ray, and, lastly, as a monster box set composed of all four discs, four vinyl records, the album as .wav files, and it’s signed by the band. All options had various price ranges as high as $300. All pre-orders will come with a link to download the album as high quality mp3, FLAC files, and Apple Lossless files.
Described as being recorded over an intense ten week period, Ghosts I-IV is 36 tracks of daydreams. Before the official madness occurred, they released the first 9 tracks over Bit Torrent. In a matter of hours, the internet lost its pants and the site’s servers crashed—it’s funny how that happened right after I paid for the CD set. I downloaded it and plugged in my brand new Panasonic RP-HX7 headphones and experienced a wide array of sounds and interesting melodies. There were no lyrics, and I expected none, making this a seriously hardcore NIN album, probably the likes of which we haven’t heard since The Downward Spiral, though Year Zero is good in its own right. Trent even said that more editions of Ghosts are likely to be released.
Trent’s comments in New York Magazine and the way his collaboration with Saul Williams worked and how The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust is being handled is a solid attempt to earn money without record labels and totally under the creator’s control. The album is listed under Creative Commons, making it free to share and remix, but illegal to make profit from. With this and other projects, hopefully we can see more artists who are able to do this and release their work on their own terms. It’s a nice trade off for something that you would actually appreciate. In the meantime, I’m waiting for the site to go back up so I can get my free download as well as the CDs that ship next month. The box set is tempting very. Once I am able to get the full download, I can dish out more details.
Trent Reznor produced Niggy Tardust. Ghosts I-IV follows the Halo catalog system, it being Halo 26 and is the 6th studio album from the band. Nine Inch Nails have been making people lose their shit since 1988.
