You might be interested to hear that Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails announced yesterday another "In Rainbows"-like release in Ghosts I-IV. It allows free DRM-free download (LAME 320kbps) of the first 9 tracks of the album or the whole 36-track work in a choice of MP3, FLAC or Apple Lossless, plus a 40 page PDF for the amazingly low $5. And, if you feel like owning a physical thing, you can pay 5 bucks more and get a double CD with a 16-page booklet when it is released in May.
Several people were complaining about Radiohead's format choice when they released In Rainbows online, but I expect this amazingly sweet deal will sew those mouths shut. Short of not liking Nine Inch Nails music (which is fair enough), I see absolutely no reason to not shell out at least those $5 for this revolutionary release. The future of music distribution might depend on the success of this strategy.
Visit the site at http://ghosts.nin.com/main/home (http://ghosts.nin.com/main/home) or order it now (http://ghosts.nin.com/main/order_options).
(Sorry, I know this sounds like spam advertising, but I got quite excited about such a great deal for the release. I hate the RIAA and its practices and I think any alternative model should get all the support and recognition it can get.)
Really interesting. This is the right way to go, imho.
Totally awesome!
This is the way all music distribution should be like!
Quite impressive!
Indeed. I'm undecided at this point as to whether or not I should go for the $300 Ultra Deluxe version, but it also seems especially excessive for what you get. Four LPs in a cloth carrier, four CDs, a DVD, one Blu-ray, the Deluxe book and a couple of 'high-quality' prints (I guess these are signed by Reznor). The $75 version? Also quite overpriced for what it seems to be, but the photos of the book make it fairly difficult to tell what sort of quality one gets for $75. I'll likely go that route.
It's a little unfortunate that Reznor's given up on surround mixes though. Year Zero was not available in a 5.1 edition, nor is Ghosts (the Blu-ray included in both deluxe sets is a stereo 24/96 affair). Naturally, the availability of all multitracks make surround fan mixes feasible, so that's one saving point, but I was also quite a fan of the way The Downward Spiral Deluxe Edition was remixed for 5.1. A rather excellent listen on the well-designed surround setup, no doubt.
Oh, and he released the first nine tracks under a Creative Commons license (EDIT: make that the entire album), by the way, and provided the initial seeds on various torrent sites. Bravo!
EDIT: Alright, the site managed to stay functional long enough for me to snag the Deluxe version. Slick.
theninhotline.com just reported that all 2500 sets of the $300 Super Deluxe edition of Ghosts I-IV have just sold out. Despite the site being unavailable half the day, NIN & Co. have brought in at least $750,000 in less than 36 hours.
Wow.
theninhotline.com just reported that all 2500 sets of the $300 Super Deluxe edition of Ghosts I-IV have just sold out. Despite the site being unavailable half the day, NIN & Co. have brought in at least $750,000 in less than 36 hours.
Wow.
i wonder how many albums NIN would have had to sell through a normal label deal to make that kind of money from sales.
I have seen the future, and in it the Ns are written backwards...
Seriously, this is a perfect example of where the music industry needs to be heading. Free previews, cheap lossless (and DRM-free) downloads and a variety of physical options that cater to the casual fan and avid collector; the one-time download was a little worrying, but worked fine (today).
Admittedly, Trent has an existing fanbase (as did Radiohead), but this is what record companies need to be thinking about if they want to remain relevant over the next few years.
i wonder how many albums NIN would have had to sell through a normal label deal to make that kind of money from sales.
"make that kind of money" - does that imply make that kind of profit?
as the takings from ghosts so far are just takings, not profit - there are still many costs to be recouped (studio time, studio musicians, audio technicians, pressings / material costs, server / web costs, staff costs etc)
Ghosts seems as if it's primarily the work of three people: Reznor (naturally) and long-time collaborators Atticus Ross and engineer Alan Moulder. Three other musicians are listed as "special guests" (one contributed to only two tracks, working apparently only a day). Rob Sheridan handled art direction with the assistance of a couple other photographers. Tom Baker handled mastering while management, promoters (what promotion?) and "support" rounded things out. Studio time isn't much of an issue -- Reznor has his own studio in L.A., though some tracking also took place at Westlake and West L.A. Music, so that factors in.
This doesn't seem like it would've been an expensive album to produce in comparison to many others. Naturally, the appeal is pretty limited, but initial sales appear to be decent if the speed at which the 2500 $300 sets sold out is any kind of indicator (which it really isn't; NIN fans are just as fanatic as they come).
I think it's going to be a profitable album. Not "buy a new house in Cabo" profitable, but at least "pay the rent" profitable. Probably just as much as one could realistically expect from an industrial/electronic instrumental album.
Several people were complaining about Radiohead's format choice when they released In Rainbows online, but I expect this amazingly sweet deal will sew those mouths shut. Short of not liking Nine Inch Nails music (which is fair enough), I see absolutely no reason to not shell out at least those $5 for this revolutionary release. The future of music distribution might depend on the success of this strategy.
I listened to the album a few times and liked what I heard. bought it in flac format a few hours ago, converted it into mp3 for my ipod, and moved the flac files into my lossless archive folder. The price was cheap, the gratification was instant, the artist gets all the money and there are no limitations to what I can do with the music. This is close to the perfect distribution method.
Excellent release, I got the $5 FLAC option despite the fact that I could easily have gotten the entire thing for free elsewhere. Great move by NIN.
I was tempted by the $75 version, only to find it'd cost another $50 to ship it to Britain. And that's per set, so it's no cheaper to split with someone else. I'm going to have to ask them if they have some other shipping method, because I'm not shelling out £60 plus...
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Since I like "The Fragile" I thought I could give the free Ghosts I download a try. I didn't like it. Kinda boring.
Still, it was an interesting move by Trent Reznor and I very much appreciate the option to listen to some of the tracks for free. Even though it turned out that I like the current Radiohead album I missed a preview feature on their web page.
cheers,
SG
Since I like "The Fragile" I thought I could give the free Ghosts I download a try. I didn't like it. Kinda boring.
It's not NIN's best work by any measure. It's more of an experimental biz plan than it is an actual album. FWIW, the album gets a LOT better as you go through it, and a lot of the good parts are NOT in the free download.