NIN Launches BitTorrent Tracker for New Release
Written by Ernesto on March 20, 2009Nine Inch Nails released their new tour sampler NIN/JA on their website a few hours ago. While the regular quality MP3s can be downloaded straight from their server, the band has set up their own BitTorrent tracker for the higher quality ‘lossless’ downloads.
Trent Reznor, the frontman of Nine Inch Nails has always been pro-filesharing and admitted to downloading music using BitTorrent. Unlike others in the music biz, the NIN members are no stranger to BitTorrent.
“We use torrents ourselves, and we know that most NIN fans are tech-savvy and familiar with file-sharing, so we want to experiment with ways to use that to our advantage, instead of making the mistake of trying to fight or ignore it, as so many artists and labels do.” NIN’s Art Director Rob Sheridan explained to TorrentFreak last year.
In fact, when they released the album ‘Ghosts‘ for free last year their server couldn’t handle the high traffic numbers and downloads, so the linked to the torrents they had uploaded to The Pirate Bay instead. Thanks to The Pirate Bay, many fans didn’t have to wait till the server recovered, and the torrent quickly became one of the most downloaded files on the tracker.
With the release of their tour promo NIN/JA today, NIN decided to prevent similar server troubles, and the band now offers .torrent downloads for the higher quality (and size) downloads. The tracker used for the torrents is hosted by the band itself on the tracker.nin.com subdomain. The tracker is already being used by thousands of fans just hours after it went up.
Self-hosted BitTorrent trackers may become a new hype. Two weeks ago, the government-owned Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) had set up its very own BitTorrent tracker to distribute some of their TV-shows.
Thus far, we haven’t spotted NIN’s tour sampler on any of the public torrent sites, but it won’t take long before it spreads. The official website requires people to submit their email address in order to get the links to the DRM-free downloads. It’s well worth it though.
Update: Apparently the tracker at nin.com was also used for some of the previous releases, we were not aware of this.
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51 Responses
Wow their own tracker. That is flash. They know what they are doing :D
Don’t really like the music but love what they are doing!
I hope other band follow NIN example.
Cool! Thx NiN!
Holy Shitballs, that’s awesome!
Another reason I love NiN so much.
I don’t know NIN music, but worth a download. Great initiative!
Well bugger me buttocks
Trent Reznor rocks! Good stuff NIN
They should watch out for take down notices from RIAA
Awesome. I hope they receive some donations for sharing some of their new music.
The album was a nice teaser for whats coming.
Also, I love the fact that a band, well not any band but a band, is using bit torrent to give their music out.
Could private torrent servers be the next way of selling music?
Another Win 4 NIN.
Thanks for the heads up… I’m seeding it right now.
Not a fan of their music, but I’ll help sharing C=
I think they had their own tracker set up for The Slip.
Fuckin LOVE NIN!!
Can’t wait for new material!!!
Psssst… the tracker was unveiled for The Slip. Same setup as now, the lossless, wav, and multitrack versions were via their tracker, the lossy versions were direct downloads. http://dl.nin.com/theslip/signup
They didn’t use the tracker for the Lights in the Sky Tour Sampler, those were just mp3s.
Opentracker?
god i love bittorrent
i’ve never been a major fan of their music, but I’d pay for their albums anyday anyway.
the level of care for their fans is aweinspiring.
#2 I’ll second that
Unlike Radiohead (who released their In Rainbows album online purely as a marketing gimmick… not to mention in awful 160 kbps quality), NIN/Trent Reznor really understands how things should be done in this new environment of digital distribution. The distressing thing is that more artists aren’t following in his footsteps.
BTW, he made some really nice bank on this distribution method. My only criticism is he kind of steered people into paying for his first major digital release, Ghosts I-IV, when it was released under a Creative Commons license (and hence legally obtainable for free). But whatever, the point is he made serious, serious money (over a million is my understanding) from this model. This puts the lie to the idea that the corrupt MAFIAA is necessary for artists to thrive.
I applaud NIN for being smart, tech savvy and understanding to fans that not everyone has extra money to spend.
Saying they launched the tracker for this release is inaccurate.
The 405gb torrent of live footage also used the tracker.nin.com
Nevermind, #16 already said that.
I’m not the biggest NIN fan anymore but Trent Reznor has been a trendsetter the last couple of years concerning album distribution. Moves by big players such as this put Bittorrent in a positive light which is great.
here it is: http://dl.nin.com/data/dl/Nine_Inch_Nails_-_The_Slip_-_Flac.torrent
It’s pretty fast, too – about 350 KB/s. Nice.
Damn, even though I don’t listen to their music, I’ve somehow become a fan of NiN :D
They’re pretty influental, too. Embracing BitTorrent to the extent of launching their own tracker should make a number of other bands really start asking, why do I need I need to be signed with this major lable, why do I need the RIAA, and do I keep getting told that filesharing is an evil worse than Satan?
These guys are smart.
Bono!!! You watching this?
This is the direction I think music should be heading, direct publishing, take the middle men out of the loop, put out your own content, and allow the fans to help make it survive, fully interactivly and of there own merit.
How much can you afford? How much do you think we’re worth? That’s what NIN is asking, and you get to decide! Not only that but you get to help publish it with them! I know i’ve got my box seeding this for at least the next week on a fully dedicated 100mb beast.
NIN Is as real as you can keep it!
Heh, although I don’t listen to NIN I must say that’s very cool of you mr. Reznor! It would be interesting to see a lot of other bands and artists doing this as well to see if the marketing/business model adapted for a direct relation between the artist and the filesharing community would work on a large scale as well. I think it probably could.
Here is the link for the apple lossless format:
http://dl.nin.com/data/dl/Nine_Inch_Nails_-_The_Slip_-_Apple_Lossless.torrent
They also have torrents for high def audio but that can only be enjoyed with very high end audio equip.
Pretty Cool and its all free !
Wish other mainstream bands were tech savvy and open to torrenting !
NIN|JA.. epic!
I smell something is rotten here, but I think it´s only MPAA/RIAA mafia ass… again great news.
Jolly good! The NINJA project should start a trend. This deserves jelly babies for everyone.
Pirates and Ninjas working together.
I love it!
Win-win situation all around.
The money that goes to the record label/RIAA. Could most likely cover the costs of a tracker/website.
“Unlike others in the music biz, the NIN members are no stranger to BitTorrent.”
This claim is based on what? Nothing? I hear stories of several including one busted in the oink raid, so I’d think there are many professionals who do it, if the Aussie policemen do too. :)
I am glad to see that this is taking a step further from a band, but I wonder how they are licensing it. I mean normally a band doesn’t own their music but the label and RIAA do…
Wow this is really great, I was so happy when I read this I wrote a big blog about how things need to really change with music
http://www.thisisawebsite.info/?p=225
I’m thankful that Nine Inch Nails is doing this :)
Thanks NIN!! :D
“The official website requires people to submit their email address in order to get the links to the DRM-free downloads. It’s well worth it though.”
Trent understands direct marketing well… if done correctly, this approach offers plenty of scope for future sales (tickets to shows/ t-shirts, autographs and other non-torrent memorabillia). He understands that e-mails are digital currency.
Excellent idea.
I might recommend though that they collect social network id’s as well… it’s the ‘new’ e-mail!
EG: If I were a NIN fan and had downloaded the new single from the official site, imagine my delight when I see a friend request from Trent (or someone representing him) asking my opinion on it? They could use this direct contact method to promote their ‘gear’ to me and I would be happy to be a part of it.
Wowsers!!!
“Bono!!! You watching this?”
@ Kevin: Well said. This comment made me chuckle, as I was reading through the book ‘U2 by U2′ last night…
Well said Kevin, but this is a message that ALL artists could learn from. Some of them should definately ‘dip their toes’ into this distribution model, methinks!
BTW, I don’t think Bono was the problem, it was that idiot of a manager (greedy git!) mouthing off about ‘evil’ pirates.
One final thought… by doing this, Trent is able to ‘lure’ his fans from using sites such as TPB (bless ‘em… good luck boys.. FTW!). Isn’t it amazing that the record companies, the RIAA, MPAA, etc can’t find a way to do this, but Trent has? LOL!
God, I love this site… :)
seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!!!!!!!
Frigin. Sweet.
Always been a huge fan of NiN, and Reznor was very much a tech savy person years and years ago.
He’s basically a hard rocking geek, and we love him for it.
Keep making the great music for the fans. He knows he’s gonna sell his fair share of music because fans are dedicated to him, to also reach out to them and offer them an alternative, is not only impressive, but very influential.
Not to mention, if they’re using their tracker, they can keep track of how many do download in relation to album sales. I’m guessing this is the way Reznor is going to show that BT releases do not affect album sales like the major labels want to claim they do.
Got it and seeding as much as I can, though bad weather here is wreaking havoc with my internet. For folks wanting to know about the license, here’s a copy-paste quote from the
.pdf that comes with the album
“this album is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial
share alike license. more information: http://www.creativecommons.org”
Sweet!!!
Cool, another BitTorrent tracker! Just cant ever have enough of them!
RT
http://www.online-privacy.pro.tc
this is great!thanks NINJA!
Yay NIN!
> Awesome. I hope they receive some donations for sharing some of their new music.
The goal is not “donations”, it’s to bring people to the tour, and they’ll probably release a NIN|JA live album after that.
> My only criticism is he kind of steered people into paying for his first major digital release, Ghosts I-IV, when it was released under a Creative Commons license (and hence legally obtainable for free).
I don’t get it. He released the whole album under C-C, released the first part on the trackers himself and let people do what they wanted after that. How’s this a problem?
> But whatever, the point is he made serious, serious money (over a million is my understanding) from this model.
That’s a bit of an understatement: Ghosts I-IV grossed $1.6 million *over the first week*, with almost half that being the Ultra Deluxe EP (2500 copies at $300 each, sold out in 3 days).
> I mean normally a band doesn’t own their music but the label and RIAA do…
NiN’s contract with their label ran out after Year Zero, which is something Reznor was waiting for (and he clearly said it). Then he started experimenting. NiN is currently independent and self-produced (and will more than likely stay that way).
> I wonder how they are licensing it
I don’t know for NIN|JA (didn’t find any information), Ghosts I-IV was released under a creative commons license (Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike), and so was The Slip
> Trent understands direct marketing well… if done correctly, this approach offers plenty of scope for future sales (tickets to shows/ t-shirts, autographs and other non-torrent memorabillia). He understands that e-mails are digital currency.
They don’t use them (and it’s specified clearly on the website), the emails are exclusively to send the download links. Ghosts and The Slip worked the same, never got any other mail from NiN until I subscribed to the newsletter, and even the newsletter is *very low* traffic.
MAJOR props to NIN and their NIN|JA tracker. Thank you for supporting the future.
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