Nine Inch Nails Uploads New Album on Torrent Sites
Written by Ernesto on March 03, 2008Nine Inch Nails has just released the first volume of their new album “Ghosts” on BitTorrent sites as a free download. The band encourages its fans to share the album with friends, post it on websites and play it on podcasts
“Ghosts” is released under a non-commercial Creative Commons license and can be shared freely, something their fans weren’t allowed to do when the band was held back by a record label.
In the release notes the band writes: “Now that we’re no longer constrained by a record label, we’ve decided to personally upload Ghosts I, the first of the four volumes, to various torrent sites, because we believe BitTorrent is a revolutionary digital distribution method, and we believe in finding ways to utilize new technologies instead of fighting them.”
This sounds is music to our ears, in more ways than one. For now, only the first volume has been uploaded onto BitTorrent sites, but the entire collection is available for download on the official website for only $5
“Ghosts I is the first part of the 36 track collection Ghosts I-IV. Undoubtedly you’ll be able to find the complete collection on the same torrent network you found this file”. They further write in the release notes “But if you’re interested in the release, we encourage you to check it out at ghosts.nin.com, where the complete Ghosts I-IV is available directly from us in a variety of DRM-free digital formats, including FLAC lossless, for only $5.”
Trent Reznor, the frontman of Nine Inch Nails has always been a supporter of sharing music via BitTorrent, even when it’s copyrighted. He isn’t frightened of talking about file-sharing. Back in May 2007 he admitted to sharing himself: “I steal music too, I’m not gonna say I don’t” he said. Later that year, when OiNK was pulled offline he admitted that he was a member there ,and said , : “If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn’t the equivalent of that in the retail space right now.”
The new Nine Inch Nails album including artwork is available for download on the official site, as well as on The Pirate Bay and other BitTorrent sites.
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lawl NIN are not very tech savvy they obviously didn’t think the whole “download direct from the band” thing would lift off like it did other wise they would have upgraded before starting it but now they’re swimming in $5 notes (well virtual ones anyway) and their former record label are pissed off thinking why didn’t we think of that record labels are the nerds in high school now they may be rich and power full but the jocks(bands/fans) still make their lives crap
[quote comment="302699"][quote comment="302684"]cant wait for II-IV to be uploaded on a site!! :P[/quote]
WRONG mp3 files suck, flac file aare ok, i rather have a hard copy ( so do many other fans) then bounce it down yourself to a player, real fans want the hard product and this digital download will hold everyone over and get new fans etc etc, but the real fan wants the real deal and packaging, i DO NOT WANT TO SEE CD MEDIA or VINYL get THROWN OUT
TRENT is very smart abbout doing this it is awesoem promotion and the market for cds and vinyl still does exist[/quote]
I just love the smell of vinyl, don’t you?
First radiohead and now this. I’m convinced record labels will all disappear in a number of years.
Good riddance!
thank you trent! yet again you have created an awesome melodic album that i cannot stop listening to! thanks for uploading the first album to tpb! i’m def paying the $5 to get the rest! thank you so much!
I have posted a HTTP mirror if anyone still can’t get on the official site.
It’s only a 320kbps version, if you want the lossless buy it. Actually buy it anyway.
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http://www.sbytes.info/wp/?p=185
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$5 , can’t complain about that.. I’m more than happy paying that, plus you get the digital bonuses :D
Well done Trent, I really hope you and your band get all the success from this approach you deserve.
This is how it should be. Bands should be able to express themselves artistically and release albums in they way they choose, and not worry about legal garbage and contracts with record labels.
Well done.
We need more Trents and Radioheads. This is is very similar to the “Swedish Model” proposed in an earlier TorrentFreak blog. When Radiohead sold/shared their album like this, thousands of well-known bands thought “Why didn’t we think of that?”
Any major band that signs an extension to their contract with a major label pimp, deserves to lose fans. You’ve got to set yourself free, for the benefit of music lovers.
The Future is NOW.
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4059246/Nine_Inch_Nails_-_Ghosts_I-IV_2008_320kbps_And_Extras
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4061239/Nine_Inch_Nails_-_Ghosts_I-IV_(2008)_(Apple_Lossless)
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4059158/Nine_Inch_Nails_-_Ghosts_I_(2008)
OK, a stunt like this would have been cool to do about 10 years ago.
This is great. the more bands that work with filesharing systems, and eliminate labels, the closer we are to a system where the artists are truly paid for their work, rather than the labels being paid for it.
I’m getting I-IV from TPB, but I’m getting the CDs when they’re available in shops
At first I expected another Radiohead move, but i gotta respect Reznor in cutting out the middle-man and giving it to TPB.
What we need to keep in mind is that as an artist he has nothing to lose from this. He’s played the industry quite well, and done very well financially. This is pure win for him, as it can only increase his popularity with a younger audience alienated by the MAFiAA and re-affirm to the aging hipsters from his original audience that he’s still “with it”, or whatever.
He’s a smart mofo, no doubts.
ive never really liked NiN tbh, but i think ill probably get this, to show my support.
i think trent is going the right way by doing this. a lot of small bands were influenced by NiN, or at least grew up listening to them, so i think soon enough they’ll follow suit.
soon record labels will realise that it should be the bands that decide how they distribute their own music, and not the labels themselves
[quote]I just love the smell of vinyl, don’t you? [/quote]
they dont really have a smell, at least mine dont anyway. But they look and feel good pon the decks!
Good for nine inch nails, hope a few people do buy it & they still make some $$$’s from there site so it encourages them and others more
Bad music, waste of bandwidth & not worth 5$. Get a 5$ hooker instead.
Take a look at this other professional Creative Commons initiative http://thenyouwin.yooook.org/ :-)
It’s not NIN’s usual as I said before but this kida grows on to you after a few listens…
anyone who makes an analogy between nerds and jocks is a fucking idiot…
thank you trent, for giving me a way to pay you for your music without funding the riaa and giving all of my money to the middlemen. i can only hope more musical acts follow suit.
I think it’s too bad that people are still looking at new distribution methods as a gimmick, or as a rip-off of Radiohead’s attempt. Trent has made some significant improvements on the distribution method in just a couple of releases (Saul Williams and Ghosts I-IV). Furthermore, the general attitude seems to be that going label-free could only work for an established band. I couldn’t disagree more. It’s just about finding the approach that works for each band. The Red Paintings, for example, are recording and releasing their debut full-length album completely independent of any label involvement, funded by fan donations.
There’s an article here, for those who are interested:
http://digg.com/music/Indie_band_raises_40k_to_record_their_album_BY_DONATION
Thank you so much. NIN has gained more respect from me, seconds to Radiohead. I believe music is freedom of speech and I will be donating to your cause.
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