Diese Einfache Gleichung führte bei mir vor kurzem zum lange geplanten Kauf von Ghosts I-IV der Nine Inch Nails, ein Album das ich euch an dieser Stelle etwas genauer beschreiben will. Das Werk gliedert sich in zwei CDs, einmal Ghosts I-II und Ghosts III-IV wobei auf jedem Tonträger 18 Stücke zu finden sind. Die Gesamtlaufzeit der somit... 18 durch 2 mal... minus...dritte Wurzel... 36 Stücke beläuft sich auf etwas über 2 Stunden, die Tracks selbst tragen keine Namen sondern sind schlicht durchgehend nummeriert.

Aufmerksam auf dieses Album, welches inzwischen zwar nicht mehr der neueste Sproß der Halo-Familie ist, wurde ich durch die Tatsache, dass die ersten 9 Titel auf der NIN-Homepage kostenlos zum Download bereitstehen. Zwiefelsohne eine geschickte Marketing-Strategie (ohne dem guten Trent hier etwas unterstellen zu wollen), denn bereits diese kleine Auswahl hat mir den Mund wässrig gemacht... bzw. die Ohren? Jedenfalls hat man es bei den "Geistern" mit reinen Instrumentalstücken zu tun. Reznor lud befreundete Musiker zum kreativen Jammen ins Studio, ganz nach der Devise "Mach was dir gefällt und was sich richtig anfühlt". Entstanden ist ein Sammelsurium aus skurrilen Klangwelten bei deren ersten Erfahrung man stellenweise nur mit den Ohren wackeln kann. Elektronische Elemente vermischen sich mit stimmigen Pianoläufen und dem Scharren, Scheppern und Summen von offensichtlich selbstgebastelten Instrumenten, von denen manche klingen wie der Vorläufer eines Shamisen. Hier mal eine verzerrte Gitarre, da mal ein Delay-getränktes Xylophon und auffallend wenig "weißes Rauschen", wie man es von früheren Werken von Mastermind Reznor kennt. Überhaupt klingen die Stücke zumindest in meinen Ohren viel wärmer und organischer, weniger verzerrt und um einiges sphärischer. Und es gefällt! Die beste Beschreibung der Musik findet sich gleich auf dem Album selbst: Dort prangt nämlich ein Aufkleber, dem man die Zeile "Soundtrack for Daydreams" entnehmen kann, was die Sache auf den Punkt bringt. Die Stücke sind auf der einen Seite relativ leicht zugänglich, da simpel konstrutiert, soll heißen nach kurzer Zeit pendelt sich ein Stück in einer bestimmten (und meist sonderbaren) Atmosphäre ein und bleibt dort dann auch bis zum Ende, ohne dass es irgendwelche neuen Motive auftauchten. Auf der anderen Seite jedoch gibt es Stücke, bei denen sich irgendwann so viele Spuren übereinandergehäuft haben, dass man alle Mühe hat einem Klangelement zu folgen. Aber das ist, wie eben die oben genannte "Soundtrack"-Beschreibung verdeutlicht, vermutlich nicht der Sinn des Albums. Mit Ghosts bekommt man einfach eine schöne Sammlung an hochgradig atmosphärischen Stücken die zum Träumen und Nachdenken einladen, und dabei stört dann auch der irgendwie "unfertige" Beigeschmack einiger Songs nicht wirklich. Tatsächlich könnte man stellenweise meinen - und das meine ich jetzt ausdrücklich positiv! - , dass man einen Viedeospielsoundtrack im Player laufen hat (Nebenbei: Die Musik der Zelda-Reihe gehört für mich zu den stimmungsvollsten Instrumentals die ich kenne). Grob würde ich das Album damit wohl in die Ambient-Ecke einsortieren.

So etwas gab es vorher sicher schon einmal, doch trotz allem ist dieses Doppelalbum eine herrliche Erfrischungskur für jedes vom Pop-Einheitsbrei geplagtes Ohr. Auf Youtube könnt ihr übrigens auch mal reinhören, denn die Nägel haben die Fans zu einem Filmfestival aufgerufen, bei welchem jeder ein Video zu einem Track beisteuern kann. Sehr interessant ist auch die tatsache, dass das komplette Album unter einer Creative Commons Lizenz läuft, soll heißen: so lange man fette Props an NIN abgibt, kann jeder mit den Songs remixen und rumwurschdeln wies ihm gefällt. Viel Spaß damit, ich setze jetzt The Fragile auf meine Must-Have Liste und hake diverse unnötige Anglizismen in meinem Diary ab. Cheerio!

flawless!?

A few months back, Nine Inch Nails released their latest album The Slip, as a free download online( you can still download it for free at that link).  I jumped at it and enjoyed my free music.  And I must say, this album is much too good to be free, but I didn't complain.

Then a few months after that, they released the physical copy on CD, and I also bought that.  Because when it comes to my favorite artists, I like to own the actual album.  I have had this album on heavy play for the past month, particularly track #2 - 1,000,000.  This song is amazing.

If you have not been following NIN like I have, you are missing out on some of the best music around these days.  They released Ghosts I-IV this year as well, as a double disc, with 34 instrumental tracks.  INCREDIBLE.  I suggest you go give them a listen, I would like to think you will thank me after listening to them.

The manor in which this album was released has been described as revolutionary, and I agree. I'm a strong critic of the music industry. I believe labels rip off consumers and make life hard for both fans and artists. Therefore I was very pleased when Trent announced that Nine Inch Nails was leaving its major label to be a completely independent artist. An album like "Ghosts" could not have been released when Nine Inch Nails was with Interscope. 

On the morning of March 2nd, 2008, Trent Reznor allowed this full 2CD 36 track album to be downloaded from his website for $5. He also uploaded the first volume of Ghosts (the first 9 tracks) to a torrent site, The Pirate Bay, himself (as well as offering it as a free download from his site). Radiohead may have started this revolution by allowing fans to pay as much as they wanted (or as little) for their latest album "In Rainbows", but Nine Inch Nails has certainly moved this process forward. He offered a quarter of the album (22 minutes) for free and only charged $5 for the rest. $5 for two hours of music is a hard offer to turn down these days when labels rip off consumers by pricing a forty minute album $20. 

And what did Nine Inch Nails do after releasing "Ghosts I-IV" for $5? He released "The Slip", another full length album, just two months later absolutely free. In my opinion, Trent Reznor is leading the way in the music business revolution by cutting out the middleman. Both the artist and fans are happy, and in the end, that's how it should be.

But enough about business, this is a music review. "Ghosts I-IV" is unlike anything Trent has ever released before. He has become known for dark and angry, lyric driven concept albums like "Year Zero" and "The Downward Spiral", enjoying a large amount of success in the process. However hidden in these records (and especially in "The Fragile"), he has always delved into instrumental music, almost always including at least one instrumental on his albums. These instrumentals have always been highly regarded by fans.

"Ghosts I-IV" is not industrial rock, like all of Trent's other albums. Hell, "Ghosts I-IV" isn't even rock. Most people would describe it as ambient, or dark ambient. Indeed many Nine Inch Nails fans may be turned off by this release. There is no single on this album. There is not one word uttered the whole time. The album is the complete opposite of "marketable". It is merely a work of art, not meant to be popular but meant as an experiment. The result is quite breathtaking when listened to correctly.

The first mistake, and one I will not make in this review, is to try and separate the tracks and judge them separately.  "Ghosts I-IV" is one piece that should be listened to straight through. Each track is meaningless on its own, but when each of these ideas is presented in context and flow into each other, it begins to make sense and starts to create a surreal atmosphere. Trent has described this album as a "soundtrack to daydreams", and I can hardly argue. 

A unique feature of this album is that each track, regardless of where you downloaded it from, contains its own artwork in its ID3 tag. This means that when listening to it in a program such as iTunes, each song has its own album artwork. The artwork reflects the mood of the song, and the two complement each other. While at the very least I recommend listening to each volume (each set of nine songs without stopping, I feel the best way to listen to this album is to leave the artwork up on your computer, lay on your bed and just listen to the whole album while watching the artwork and reflecting on your own. When this is done, the album creates an experience like no other.

As I said you can't judge the individual tracks on this album by themselves. However the album as a whole is a very reflective, atmospheric, and surreal journey that I feel to be incredible. I know this album has polarized fans, many regarding it as a masterpiece while others have screamed for the normal NIN, I feel that anyone who has a passing interest in ambient music or has enjoyed Trent's previous instrumentals should like this album. I regard it very highly and hope that Trent follows up on his promise of more "Ghosts" volumes.

Rating: 4/5

A track listing is pointless since they are all untitled. Each song is just titled with its number in the album (1-36) and its volume number (1-4).

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Read more HERE.

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Well, to make myself feel better, I did manage to finish, edit and send off a story to CinemaSpec.  Also, I put up the 2nd post/chapter of Blood Routes today.

I've been doing research on Broken Skies and the untitled non-fiction project that I have just written the proposal for.  And in doing that research, I somehow ended up reading an article about Nine Inch Nails.  I was a huge fan of NIN during the era of The Downward Spiral and that empty five years waiting between it and The Fragile.  I'm still a fan.  I thought Year Zero was probably one of best albums I'd heard in the last three years or so.  Then, when Ghosts I-IVcame out independently on-line, I missed it by like a week.  By the time I knew it had been offered for super-cheap via download on NIN's website, the actual physical CD was already in stores.

And now Trent and co. have gone and done it again.  The Slip has been available for a while now on the NIN website (cover art to the left).  It's an entire new album which NIN has made available for absolutely free...there are even downloadable files available that can be remixed by fan. And when I went to the site to check this out, I realized that perhaps I am not the fan I thought I was.  I am actually currently listening to some of the stuff from the Ghosts albums and learning all about the new and inventive ways Trent Reznor is getting his music out there.  Even if you aren't or have never been a fan of his music, you should swing by the NIN website and check out what he's been up to.  If you get a chance, I highly recommend checking out the rehearsal videos.

Okay...back to trying to force myself into writing at least 4,000 words on something today.

Nine Inch Nails, and Trent Reznor in particular, has been a pretty outspoken advocate of ditching the "major labels" and embracing digital distribution and all of its opportunities and challenges.

TechDirt has a great update of the some the band's schemes, including hiding tickets around LA and posting coordinates on their website.  Of this, TechDirt says:

"While it may be a little silly, it is yet another way for Reznor to build up a really loyal fanbase. He's making being a fan fun."

I think that's a brilliant observation.  They're making being a fan fun.  Think about that.  How often are things about being a fan not fun?  Standing in line in the rain is not fun.  Having to deal with TicketMaster is definitely NOT fun.  By making "fun" a key part of being a fan, Nine Inch Nails is showing just how they've remained relevant for so long in such a volatile market.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Burn: Nine Inch Nails Dumps Record Labels, Going Direct to Fans
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• Nine Inch Nails For Free

All eerie instrumentals.

Best release in years.

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Everything sucks. Yes, everything new is lame, everything old is great, nothing good ever happens anymore. The planet is going to spontaneously combust at any moment. The President of our dear country clubs infants on a regular basis. The new Indiana Jones movie was the worst thing anyone has ever seen, and nothing Metallica could possibly release would stand a chance of comparing to the music they wrote in the 80's. We've heard it all before, seen it all before, and it was all better then than it is now.

Everything "sucks." Everything is "gay."

We're not excusing ourselves in the least from this behavior. In fact, we've recently started a series of posts that consists of nothing but bitching and moaning about all the things that are ruining America, the place we call home. We don't plan on stopping that series anytime soon, so to ease our conscience, we're starting a brand new series today; this shiny new series will be about everything that's positive, awesome, rad, or just generally contributing to the progress of our species as a whole.

THINGS THAT ARE SAVING AMERICA: A NEW SERIES

TRENT REZNOR and RADIOHEAD: LEADERS of the NEW MUSIC REVOLUTION

In October of 2007, Radiohead posted a simple bulletin on their website, saying simply,

Hello everyone.

Well, the new album is finished, and it's coming out in 10 days;

We've called it In Rainbows.

Love from us all.

Jonny"

A mere ten days later, Radiohead began pioneering a revolutionary way of releasing new music, on their own terms and outside of the traditional model of the record labels. They allowed fans to download their entire album for a price of their choosing; the price could be as little or as much as the fan wanted to pay, or perhaps what they felt it was worth. In other words, they were giving their music away to any number of people who simply didn't feel like paying for it.

Months later, Trent Reznor, the musical genius behind Nine Inch Nails, released a full album of instrumental music in much the same way. Reznor added to the Radiohead model by offering different audio qualities and packages at different prices, including downloads, cd's and vinyl packages, ranging from $0 to $300. He even went further by releasing a more traditional album completely gratis less than three months later, not even allowing his fans to pay for it, and offering it at a quality that even exceeds what is capable on a compact disc. In Trent's own words to his fans:

Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me."

God bless you, Trent.

______________________________________

Recently, Gene Simmons (aka that guy who got paid for wearing a lot of makeup and having a long tongue) has been quoted as saying that Radiohead's "decision is contributing to the demise of the record industry and insists his band would never follow suit." (Article)

Well, to Gene Simmons, we say: You suck.... and also, you're gay.

In all seriousness, the model that Radiohead and NIN have used to release their newest works has struck a blow to the music "industry" that will never be repaired. Nor, in our humblest of opinions, should it be. This blow was struck by a group of artists, led by frontmen Thom Yorke and Trent Reznor, to an industry that has made its existence out of exploiting not only the artists, but the fans.

So, why would Gene Simmons be so upset by this? We say it's because Gene Simmons is not an artist, but a long-tounged, playmate toting, reality tv has-been. Through his own words, he has done nothing more than confirm that to him... it's not about the music. It's not about the art. It's about the money.

O.K. Fine. It's about the money. So, why... you ask... does THAT upset US?

It's all about art. Art is one of the most beautiful, sacred acts of creation that we mere mortals are capable of. It's a manifestation of all that separates us from everything that's soulless and despicable, ignorant and incapable. Beautiful works of art are often all that's left of civilizations that perished millenia ago. Simply put, art is good. Art saves. It inspires and moves us, it reminds us of what's important.

To strip art of it's soul, to take away that which makes it so profound and remarkable, and to do so for something so fleeting and unimportant as money, is to knowingly take that which is sacred and turn it into profanity. That's all there is to it. And that's why it's so disgusting that someone like Gene Simmons would have that attitude.

Conversely, that's why the members of Radiohead, along with Trent Reznor, are saving America. They're saving the art of music by destroying the music industry itself. And, coincidentally, they're making a lot of money while they're at it.

Even though the industry will continue on as it has, it will never be the same. It will grow weaker and weaker until it can no longer function. One day, the artist will be able to create what he or she will, without paying tribute to men in suits, being compensated in a more fair way, free from the constraints and pressures of those who don't understand what it's really all about.

Forgive us for rambling, but this is really something worth getting excited about. And we are.

-b&k

I'll be probably the first to admit, especially recently, that i'm a devoted fan, follower, possibly worshiper of Trent Reznor (see: Nine Inch Nails). Of all the crazy experiments that have happened in the post-Napster era of the music industry, he's the only person in the industry who has a wide audience to voice to, who has "gotten it".

The New York Times did an interview with him that apparently landed in Saturday's edition (June 14), where he said this:

"I don't agree that (music) should be free, but it is free, and you can either accept it or you can put your head in the sand."
(Note: I don't get the Times, so i'm quoting from blabbermouth)

This coming from the man who recently made $1.6 million in the first week his all-instrumental release Ghosts I-IV, was on sale -- ONLY on the internet. I'd bet that's far more than he ever made off of a royalty check from Interscope or TVT. Though, the expenses all of that requires probably cost a pretty penny...

Onto the point --

In a June 13th posting on nin.com, Reznor announced the physical release of the to-this-point free internet-only album The Slip. The set, which comes as a 2-disc digipak in CD form, is completed by a DVD featuring rehearsal footage for this summer's upcoming "Lights in the Sky Tour", a 24-page art booklet, and stickers. I figure, regardless of the fact that I already have the free album, i'd be willing to pay $10-$12 plus shipping for the extras and art, etc.

Herein lines my problem. From what I gather in the posting, the US/Canada/Japan release is a strictly limited edition pressing of 200,000 individually numbered copies. Ok, limited edition... i'm not SO amped over this that i'm going to hover over nin.com the day of release and try to score a copy. What puzzles me however, is that the UK/Australia/all other territories release is NOT limited (and thus not numbered), but is otherwise completely identical to the limited edition package. What?!?

Don't get me wrong, i'm not angered by this so much as confused. Since the release of Year Zero and his subsequent leaving of Interscope, Trent has been a one man tour-de-force for experimental industry tactics. While everyone else has been either suing, crying wolf, or just digging their head in the sand - Reznor has been on the complete forefront of new-age DIY recording industry economics. But in the wake of the ridiculously successful Ghosts I-IV release, what logic dictates that North America/Japan would get only a limited physical release of his new album, whereas everywhere else gets it standard? I'd assume that the point i'm missing is that releasing a physical recorded product in the US is a pain in the ass, even with the right distribution methods. That, OR somehow logic says that we're only going to buy something if its special and limited these days. Maybe it's even just that by doing a limited release, The Slip is essentially guaranteed to sell out here. Really, I have no idea...

My feeling is that, as a semi-avid fan -- someone who actively keeps up with the band but is by no means a collector, and is generally mostly too broke to afford all but select album purchases these days -- I am one of the many fans who would gladly throw in my $15 total to check out the DVD, artwork, and maybe even have some stickers. I'd even be MORE glad if the only place I could get it was nin.com, and shipping wasn't instantly guaranteed because they only keep a limited number of pressings on hand at any given time. I'd rather give my money directly to Trent than to Trent by way of Best Buy. But i'm not so gung-ho about this that i'm going to line up to buy it immediately, and why would I pay for an import (if it is actually being released in stores in the UK), unless it's cheap? I already have the music. Plus, in all likelyhood, Trent's fans are going to put the DVD up as a torrent anyway.

I just feel like i'm kind of missing something here. I've understood the logic up to this point, have completely championed it to everyone I can get within earshot, but I don't get this.

Read more HERE.

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Nine Inch Nails
The Slip
May 5th 2008
The Null Corporation

"thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me"

Following his self-released instrumental album Ghosts I-IV, Trent Reznor comes at us again, this time reaching out to fans registered at nin.com with an album free for download. The Slip is licensed under creative commons law, which encourages people to use material for any non-commercial purpose as long as the product remains available for creative commons use. It comes less than 3 months after Reznor’s instrumental opus and contains many of the same elements as the 36 track Ghosts set.

Where you stand on the argument of which NIN record is the greatest will largely determine your love or languishing of The Slip. If you are a fan of his goth-industrial, Skinny Puppy influenced early work, then this may be entirely too divergent and you may scoff at it saying, “Nails’ early work was way better.” Clearly Pretty Hate Machine and Broken/Fixed have their charm as groundbreakers. Who didn’t find happiness in slavery or god/money absolutely darling concepts?

The Downward Spiral codified Reznor’s place as a musical genius for the masses. Remember when people remarked after a particularly close listening of Closer, “Did you know that Trent Reznor was a classically trained pianist?” as if this somehow justified your purchase of the record without having any track marks. His place as a true Deus de Electronica came with his collaboration with David Bowie on Earthling and his seminal contribution to David Lynch’s Lost Highway soundtrack, Perfect Drug. Nine Inch Nails’ trajectory culminated in a 4 minute video in which Reznor dressed as a young Alister Crowley. The problem? Perfect Drug is Mr. Reznor’s least favorite thing he has ever done. He believed his path thus far had strayed, and change was in order. I’d have to disagree, but hey- dude’s got his opinion.

Years later, NIN released the indubitable double disc The Fragile. Some fans saw this record as a deviation from his earliest work, pussyfooting around the recording room. Rather than drive an intense electro-beat with raging guitars and vocals, many of the songs were caught up in the atmospherics. Lyrics became secondary, if they appeared at all. Jazz chords replete with syncopated dulcimers and xylophonic movements were sandwiched between chart-zingers like Star Fuckers Inc. Reznor’s work was drawn from more than just his cold black heart. He succeeded in sustaining his visionary status without caricaturing himself; a disappointment that he perhaps felt had occurred during his David Lynch experiment.

Then the 2000’s came complete with 8 years of George W. Bush. Big Brother never seemed so domineering. Reznor’s paranoia would never again get the opportunity to enter ears more receptive. With the rise of indie rock though, NIN had an uphill climb in order to remain relevant. We live in a post-rock era now. In some ways this released him from his obligation of showmanship. If NIN was to continue, it would not be by the grace of Marilyn Manson. Though With Teeth and Year Zero might not be his most defining work, they are certainly more mature and in sync with the state of affairs of rock and roll. His style, like that of Lou Reed and Bowie, seemed to morph without penalty. He set the terms and tone of his relevancy.

Reznor, confident in his ability to maintain an audience, released Ghosts I-IV containing 4 volumes, 2 discs, and 36 lyricless tracks. The album has a movie score like quality. With a record devoted solely to environment and subtlety, Reznor was free to commit to something like never before. With The Fragile, the commercial confines required that his instrumental endeavors be sparse. Now having left Universal, Nine Inch Nails could release a straight up art album with no to answer to but his audience. To our delight, he then released a follow up fewer than 3 months later.

The Slip is an aggressive project that assimilates some of the atmosphere of Ghosts I-IV. Typical of his post Fragile releases, the music is much more instrument oriented. Where his early work was composed of blips and distorted thuds of a synthesized and amplified typewriter, The Slip has is constructed of real snares sounds with recognizable guitar tones. Not to say that it doesn’t have its share of electronic beats, the synthesizer is certainly still employed, but any comparison with tracks prior to 1999 will illustrate the marked distinction in direction.

So it really comes down to your favorite chapter in NIN’s catalogue. The Slip is a great record that offers 10 new compositions to an ever increasing legacy. The best quality of this record the live is its studio feel. For all the fuzz and blown out noise it contains, the acoustics of the drums off the studio wall cut through, and Reznor’s vocals sound as if he is only across the room. The Slip is a very under produced album. It states Reznor’s appreciation for his listeners. The Slip is an invitation into the studio, unmitigated by highly compressed and modulated megabytes. Thanks dude…but Perfect Drug wasn’t that bad!

-FF

7/9

http://www.nin.com/
http://www.myspace.com/nin

Other Records
Pretty Hate Machine- 1989
Broken/Fixed- 1992
The Downward Spiral- 1994
The Fragile- 1999
With Teeth- 2005
Year Zero- 2007
Ghosts I–IV- 200
The Slip- 2008

Vía | Barrapunto

Escuchando: Ese es ti - Mercedes Peón

Current band members are Aaron North, Jeordie White, Alessandro Cortini, Josh Freese and of course Trent Reznor, who has been the leader and front man of the band. NIN's music is considered as a combination of industrial, experimental and electronic music genres nowadays.

I would like to give you some further information regarding The Slip, the newest/hottest release of NIN, but before there is another release deserves to be mentioned. So, let's quickly do that.

Ghosts I - IV

The band's seventh studio album, Ghosts I-IV, also known as Halo 26, was released on 2nd of March, 2008. 36 new instrumental tracks with a 40-page PDF book covering whole release were brought to its mass audience. It was, in fact still, possible to download 9 tracks from this release even for free. All you have to do is to visit the official web site of the album. When you choose "free download" option, you'll see some details about what you're going to get for free. As I said above, you'll get 9 out of 36 tracks with good sound quality as well as the complete PDF book. However, if you're willing to have physical copies of tracks and book, there are so many options for you. So, please check it out.

The Slip

The Slip, also known as Halo 27, is the newest release of NIN and has just been released today, 5th of May, 2008. This is the second album of the band in just three months period. Whoa, surprised!!!!

I'm not just surprised by the band's performance, releasing around fifty tracks in three months period. I'm also surprised by the fact that is this album is released one hundred percent free. Is it surprising, even astonishing, isn't it?

Well, Trent Reznor sometimes does crazy things and definitely knows how to act in this huge music market to keep NIN popular. In my opinion, he's doing pretty well.

The Slip consists of ten songs and runs about forty-four minutes and all can be purchased for free. A PDF-book with artworks and credits are also included in free download package. All you have to do is to submit your e-mail address on the official site of the new album, and then wait for download link that will be sent to your e-mail address. Apparently, so many people have requested download links and therefore there are some delays. Because, I haven't got any response about download links from the site. Hope, I'll somehow get The Slip before dawn.

In addition, if you're interested to have physical copies of it, unfortunately you should wait for while. Because of, hard copies will be available for purchase in July. Do you think that you can be patient and wait till July? I don't think so:)

Enjoy it!

Trent Reznor is trying to take the innovative Radiohead "name your price" technique to new levels. Back in March, the Nine Inch Nails frontman released "Ghosts I-IV," a two hour collection of instrumental songs. The album was made available in various DRM-free forms at different price levels.

Now, Reznor is just giving stuff away. A 10-song, 44 minute album titled "The Slip" is available for free download from the band's website, in a plethora of different formats, including high quality mp3, FLAC and m4a lossless. No one said anything about the quality of the music Reznor's been producing, but at least he's trying to go about in a unique way. Tracklisting and video after the jump.

The Slip
01. 999,999
02. 1,000,000
03. Letting You
04. Discipline
05. Echoplex
06. Head Down
07. Lights In The Sky
08. Corona Radiata
09. The Four Of Us Are Dying
10. Demon Seed

"Echoplex"

T

Como adiantado, o Nine Inch Nails lançou mais um disco hoje, via internet. "The Slip" chega depois dos lançamentos do disco "Ghosts I-IV" e dos singles “Echoplex" e “Discipline”.

Para baixar o novo trabalho, basta acessar a página theslip.nin.com. Forneça um endereço de e-mail e receberá um link para download (gratuito). Você pode baixar nos formatos mp3, flac, wav etc.

"The Slip" track list
01. 999,999
02. 1,000,000
03. Letting You
04. Discipline
05. Echoplex
06. Head Down
07. Lights In The Sky
08. Corona Radiata
09. The Four Of Us Are Dying
10. Demon Seed

Antes, o Nine Inch Nails lançava material novo após grandes intervalos de tempo: o disco "The Downward Spiral" foi lançado em 1994; cinco anos depois, sai "The Fragile" e, em 2005, "With Teeth".

Depois de se tornar independente, as coisas mudaram. O NIN, que já lançou nesse ano o disco duplo “Ghosts I-IV", anda disponibilizando faixas novas na internet. A mais recente é "Echoplex", lançada menos de duas semanas depois do single “Discipline”.

Deve vir mais coisa por aí. Hoje, dia 5, a banda promete mais novidades.

Escute, abaixo, "Echoplex".

Nine Inch Nails machen vor wie es geht. Nachdem sie ihr Album 'Ghosts I-IV' direckt ab ihrer Web Seite verkaufen: www.nin.com (Download: von 9 Song Gratis bis 5$ für das ganze das ganze Album aber auch als Doppel CD bis zur limitierten (über 2500. Stück) Super Delux Version inkl. Vinyl für 300$) was ihnen locker mehr als eine Milion $ einbrachte, Fordern sie nun die Fans auf die Videos zum Album zu produzieren und NIN FILM FESTIVAL (948 Videos bis Dato) Die Band setzt die neuen Medien sehr gut für die eigenen Zwecke ein, Auch benützen sie neben Youtube, Flicker und RSS News Feeds.

Ich bin gespannt wieviel Bands diesem Trend noch folgenwerden, Also wenn Bands die Major 360 Grad Strategie selber nutzen. Den Fan kann es freuen, er kann Musik massive günstiger und erst noch direkt von der Band bekommen.

No doubt many of you have heard about Radiohead releasing their new album In Rainbows online as a digital mp3 download for whatever price you thought it was worth. To many this seemed to be a marvelous step forward in combating both tyrannical labels and music piracy– simultaneously catering to the age of digital music distribution. Of course, little did anybody know that the band had secretly planned to release the album later through a major label on CD (presumably for the usual high price determined by that label). What appeared to be an honest ‘eff you’ to the system, turned out to be a marketing ploy, and perhaps even a case of cheating fans out their money (some poor people paid hundreds of dollars as a sign of support).

Then, Trent Reznor (you know, that NIN guy) and up-and-coming spoken word/hip-hop artist Saul Williams did the real deal. They released their (amazing) collaborative album for free with higher quality than Radiohead’s downloads, no strings attached, and giving the option to pay 5 dollars in support of the artists. I think there are two main reasons why artists have turned to self-distribution in a digital format.

The first reason is probably somewhere near you right now: your mp3player or iPod (I’ll just call them all iPods from here on, for convenience’s sake). It is clear to me that we have reached a stage at which it is impossible to live without digital music. Since Napster, we’ve been using our computers as jukeboxes, and with Apple’s help, we can carry those jukeboxes around. However, a large problem was created by these technologies: piracy. Sure, we had the mix-tape problem in the 80s, but once it came to CDs and the Internet, the sheer scale of the problem made the blank-tape tax seem like a drop in the bucket. Now that the damage is nigh irreversible, it’s only logical that the fumbling record labels would join us after failing to beat us.

In this age of the mp3, we face a burgeoning frontier of music marketing. The labels want to keep you from stealing music so they can make huge bucks, and the artists want to get heard by as many people as possible without losing money. After recognizing that money could still be made on the Internet, the labels and Apple got together and formed the iTunes Store as a way of allowing the music industry (mostly the Recording Industry Association of America or RIAA) to make you pay for songs that you would otherwise have acquired illegally. Of course, this helps the labels more than it helps the artists. A much larger percentage of the money you spend with iTunes is going to the label, than to the artist (more than is usual, I’d guess, though I couldn’t say specifically how much).

The reason is this: you are not paying for the music; you are paying the label for the ability to hear the music (note that due to copy-protection, many songs are subject to harsh limitations, in terms of sharing and backups). Were you to pirate it instead, you could be sued by that label for sums well outside of your price range– regardless of whether you were someone’s dead granny, or someone’s nine-year-old grandson.

Obviously, some artists are not pleased with the way this system works. Allegedly the Zappa Family Trust had all of Frank Zappa’s material removed from the iTunes store. The action certainly follows from a quote by Frank Zappa himself: “The manner in which [people] ‘consume’ music has a lot to do with leaving it on their coffee tables, or using it as wallpaper for their lifestyles, like the score of a movie– it's consumed that way without any regard for how and why it was made.”

I’d venture to say that many artists feel this way. The pop-single mentality, which seems not only to be supported, but also endorsed by iTunes, is the kind of mentality that completely disregards the artistic process, and the effort that goes into making a cohesive album. So, if we are to continue living in an age of digital music distribution, and we want to support the artist, it seems that perhaps we need a better business model than what we have right now.

The second reason for self-distribution follows from that poor model. Artists would love to be heard, and by many, many people. Obviously, they can’t very well distribute their physical albums to the entire world efficiently. They must pay a label to distribute it, allowing the label to set a price (in some cases, unnecessarily high), and further delay their albums without good reason in order to somehow satisfy their label’s wishes. The Internet provides the kind of global market they want, without the money-grubbing middlemen. However, the digital age poses the problem of losing the physical aspect of the album, including the artwork, the lyrics, and obviously the disc itself. However, if the music is all that’s important, maybe people like Trent Reznor and Saul Williams can still get by. Without releasing their album through iTunes, and without going through middlemen, they have released an album with lossless quality, for as much money as an overpriced cup of coffee, or alternatively, for free! Such a low price potentially allows that the casual music pirate might actually consider paying for the album, as a sign of support for the artist. Certainly this is the best way we have to support the artist, and only the artist, in return for giving us some great music.

That said, I do have problems with the self-distributed model. For one thing, I like having the physical album. Here’s a little fact for you: the blank CD-Rs that are sold to us are missing something crucial. Whereas on commercial CDs, there is a lacquer finish over the burned music, increasing both the duration of its fidelity and its durability, blank CD-Rs do not have this lacquer finish, which significantly decreases both. This means, that if I don’t have an iPod, and I want to listen to digitally distributed album in my eight-year-old discman, then I’ll have less chance of maintaining the quality of that recording. I also like having the artwork, and the little booklet with all the lyrics in it. Sure, they can give me a jpeg or a pdf file with all of that stuff and more, but there’s something to be said for having an album and its artwork; appreciating it in the context it was made for.

In order to reconcile the physical album with the digital age, I propose a method that I’ve borrowed from Rob Sheridan (artwork designer for Nine Inch Nails). Basically, if we want to support the artists who aren’t ready or able to innovate to the level that Radiohead pretended, or that Saul Williams succeeded, without supporting the greediness of the RIAA, we should simply not buy CDs released by labels under the RIAA. Sure, you’ll be deprived of some good music, but maybe they’ll learn a lesson if enough people try, and maybe, just maybe, the labels and the artists can cooperate in creating a marketable system, that will benefit both the label, the artist, and most of all, the consumer of the digital age.

Addendum: For the record, I did buy the physical release of In Rainbows, and it was worth it. Saul Williams' Niggy Tardust is supposed to be seeing a physical release with added tracks in the near future, which makes me feel somewhat betrayed, having written this big honking article about how revolutionary the method was. That said, I will buy it. The importance of the physical album is too great to hold grudges about the 5 bucks I spent. That said, I also spent coughed up five bucks AND fourteen bucks for both the digital and physical versions of Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts (but there were no secrets about the physical release.

Furthermore, at the risk of revealing myself as a hypocrite, I recently won a free iPOD shuffle. Now, since this a bit problematic for me. I'm not the sort of person to sell anything, so it seems important that I use the thing. So far it has seen its most use as backing music for my outdoor-acoustic guitaring. I think that may be how it will stay. I love my Clunky disc-man too hard to throw it all away (literally) over an apple product...