» Nailing it

El Reg was kind enough to tell geekdom of Nine Inch Nails‘ new album, Ghosts.

Why would El Reg care? Probably because of the way NiN is distributing it. The first nine tracks are available for free download, with the option to order the rest of the album (36 tracks in all) either as high quality downloads or the 2-CD set.

This isn’t the first time a band has tried to work with their fan base to distribute their works, everyone’s familiar with Radiohead’s dabbling with online distribution, but I think this is one of the first times since the demise of MP3.com that a reasonable idea has been floated. Unlike Radiohead’s attempt, the 36 tracks $5 will get you are high quality in multiple formats, and 2 CDs for $10 is a decent price by anyone’s standards.

Cynics are likely to claim that NiN can only really do this because they’re a “name” band, but that shouldn’t mean the idea has no merit. Far less well-known bands have achieved prominence without major label backing, such as Emerald Rose, so any experiments on ways to lever the Internet are worthwhile. It might take a “name” band to have the courage to do those experiments, but each attempt, each method tried, in the end will find more ways to break the antiquated model the music labels use to fill their pockets.

Oh, and if you haven’t heard Emerald Rose yet, you’re missing out - try some!

[Edit] It seems that things are a little too good to be true.  Even at decent cheap prices with the majority of the revenue going to the artist, there are still a bunch of people around who can’t be bothered to pay for it.  I guess the culture of entitlement is alive and well - but you can’t call these people “fans” by any stretch of the imagination.  I think there’s rules against using the words that come to mind.

Tags: emerald rose, music, NiN, nine inch nails, trent reznor