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.

RT
http://www.online-privacy.pro.tc

“this album is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial
share alike license. more information: http://www.creativecommons.org”

Sweet!!!

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.

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… :)