Offering Music for Free?

[Dramatic Flare]

In a recent bold move, Nine Inch Nails has offered their new Album, The Slip, free off of their website nin.com [http://www.nin.com]. The package includes several different possible downloads, from a simple mp3 file to a whopping 1.2 gigabyte WAVE 24/96 file.

On their website, Trent Reznor simply said "this one's on me."

This is not the first time Nine Inch Nails has done such, as their previous album Ghosts I-IV also had the opportunity to download free songs from it. However, unlike, Ghosts, which still managed to earn $1.6 million from downloading higher quality versions of the same music, The Slip is entirely free.

For those who are unable to download the music, CDs and Vinyls will be released in a few months. An exact date has not been presented.

This leads me, personally, to some speculation about how the music industry will be managed in the future. If a band can offer their music for free and still make a profit, what point is there in a recording company? All musicians need is a good place to record and edit, and then post it online for mass distribution.

 

[jim_doki]

yeah, trent's not gonna make a profit on this one. not that i mind too much, this is exactly what artists should be doing to get around piracy. well, almost. I think its fair that an artist offer their music for whatever the customer wants to pay. (See radiohead: in rainbows). that said, trents not really setting a great example considering how much money he already has.

 

[Isaac Dodgson]

I think he did this a while ago...

And too bad newer NIN blows in my opinion...

 

[Yog Sothoth]

that might be cool if NIN had produced a decent album since "downward spiral"... i've not heard any material from this new release, but something tells me i'd somehow still feel ripped off if i downloaded it...

good publicity, however... trent can be a pretty sharp guy at times....

and here's to seeing the demise of the recording industry... they've been ripping off musicians and shoving garbage down our throats for too long...

 

[Dramatic Flare]

and here's to seeing the demise of the recording industry... they've been ripping off musicians and shoving garbage down our throats for too long...

Agreed. I just wonder if instead of a record company, there will be smaller booking agencies that just say "you need to be here at time X." and let the artist figure out how to get there. Then, I dunno, the house and the artist split the ticket profits?

 

[Yog Sothoth]

and here's to seeing the demise of the recording industry... they've been ripping off musicians and shoving garbage down our throats for too long...

Agreed. I just wonder if instead of a record company, there will be smaller booking agencies that just say "you need to be here at time X." and let the artist figure out how to get there. Then, I dunno, the house and the artist split the ticket profits?

as far as i know, that's pretty close to how it works now... the labels have very little to do with tours and shows, and don't receive any of the profits - i think...

lyle lovett claims to have never seen a single royalty payment and that the only way he's survived as a professional musician is by touring.....(Seattle Weekly, 10.17.08)

EDIT: forgot to add that although i think NIN has been in a downward spiral since, well "Downward Spiral", it is very cool of him to offer his music in the .wav lossless compression format.... i hate the .mp3 format.... i demand full fidelity!

 

[blackcherry]

NIN artistic merits are to be talked about somewhere else (but to make it clear, with teeth and year zero were pretty good ) but to be honest, the way the record companies are going at the moment with more an more people listening to what they want and not what is pushed by the labels, this looks the way to go.

Give away your albums free and if you are good enough and make fans spread the word by treating them as royalty(as most deserve), people will come to your shows and have the ,um, dedication that some NIN fans have nowadays.

 

[AuntyEthel]

As far as I understand it, artists make mere pennies off cd sales anyway. Touring creates the biggest revenue, and NiN plays fucking massive shows (Madison Cube Garden etc)

 

[Virgil]

If a band can offer their music for free and still make a profit, what point is there in a recording company? All musicians need is a good place to record and edit, and then post it online for mass distribution.

The part you're missing from the equation is that NIN doesn't actually need the money. Their existing CDs are certainly still earning royalties and they have enough fans that they can tour until they can't play anymore and they'd still be able to make a very significant living.

That doesn't demean the fact that they're acknowledging that and still creating and releasing music anyway. Kudos to them for giving back to the community that made them what they are. But that doesn't mean that any musician can do it - they have to be established enough to have those fans first. And not spend all their money on hookers and blow.