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Internet Lessons from Nine Inch Nails and Obama

blogs.wsj.com — Most business execs probably aren't familiar with Trent Reznor's angst-filled industrial rock. But they could learn a lot from the Nine Inch Nails frontman's experiments with online business models. Also, the Obama campaign has made available its database of supporters to anyone who wants access to the information, empowering volunteers.

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  • ninedead, on 03/04/2008, -10/+53can never go wrong when you mix nin and voter empowerment!
    • deanlowe, on 03/04/2008, -3/+12You say empowerment, I say ID theft and spam target. No one cares about privacy anymore.
      • ninedead, on 03/04/2008, -6/+1how so?
        • nospinhere, on 03/04/2008, -3/+8How so?:

          "Also, the Obama campaign has made available its database of supporters to anyone who wants access to the information"

          You got to be kidding me, even Obamabots can't be that dense.

    • portis, on 03/04/2008, -9/+2Whoa...at this point..this post has 666 diggs...how fitting! :)
      • ninedead, on 03/04/2008, -8/+1politicians are devils so heh. haha
  • utopia2064, on 03/04/2008, -15/+127Two of my favorite people changing the world as we know it.
    • JessicaSarahS, on 03/04/2008, -12/+145Obama/Reznor '08!!
      • DanOnTheMoon, on 03/04/2008, -25/+2Treznor's a marxist? That's new.
        • sarixe, on 03/04/2008, -0/+14interesting... the misspelling of a name, and the misjudging of another's politics!
        • Moskie, on 03/04/2008, -3/+7What, you think he's republican?

          /rollseyes
    • Fr4nk2012, on 03/04/2008, -33/+12vague promises of change = changing the world

      Oh, I see now.
      • MrCobaltBlue, on 03/04/2008, -10/+2I like how people dig you down, yet don't take the time to refute your claim.
        • SHv2, on 03/04/2008, -12/+6As I've made comments like that and said the same thing as you I shall repeat to you as others have done to me... They're digging you down because they either don't want to bother seeing it and want to get to the next comment or they don't feel like responding. Welcome to Digg, where only mob thought rules whether you live or die. Go against the mob and, well, shouldn't be hard to figure out what happens.
      • turner050, on 03/04/2008, -6/+2So true. I'm not against Bobama or anything but he hasn't proven *****. To say he's one of my "favorite people" is jumping the gun.
    • OrangeTide, on 03/04/2008, -17/+10let's pray that you are being sarcastic and I just didn't get it.
    • masterm1nd, on 03/04/2008, -12/+3facepalm?
    • thailand1972, on 03/04/2008, -6/+12Changing the world? If you think that's the case, your complacency will never change the world.
  • Disclaim3r, on 03/04/2008, -12/+36Dugg for great justice.
    • DanOnTheMoon, on 03/04/2008, -5/+2Yeah, those Bohemian Grove guys are all about justice..
    • samuel514, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1Power 2 the People ! :)
  • warped2k, on 03/04/2008, -7/+61Dugg. Perhaps the next 'internet lesson' from NIN is better servers. Paid my $5 but still had to download it from a torrent after their server died and the download link was good for one go only
    • darkcompass, on 03/04/2008, -0/+9I did the same - then waited until late last night before downloading. It came through fine - albeit at around 15k a second. I'm sure the lessons will be learned, and people are looking intently at this to see if it could work for them, and I welcome this - more power to the artist!
    • fkr3, on 03/04/2008, -4/+6It's yet to be seen if this experiment is a success. He lost a significant chunk of cash just a few months ago on his first try at this. The most interesting part will be where 'success' is determined to be with pirated vs. paid copies of the album. There's already over 6000 people seeding the album in it's entirety (two different torrents on tpb and mininova) - the one you're supposed to pay $5 for - and just over 5000 seeding the free version.
      • SHv2, on 03/04/2008, -1/+15The real question is, how many of those people did exactly like I did. We PAID for it, the download failed off the site, we go to a torrent to snatch it.
      • TritonX, on 03/04/2008, -3/+2"He lost a significant chunk of cash"
        Really you talked with his accountants ?
        And I'm betting that from the 6000 downloading it from torrents some of them paid at least 5$ for it but couldn't get it from the main server so they resorted to torrenting it, I know that's what I did.
        • fkr3, on 03/04/2008, -3/+2Yeah right... all those thousands of people sharing the full album are people who bought it and then turned to bittorrent.... bla bla bla.

          http://ninblogs.wordpress.com/2008/01/03/saul-foll ...
          ----
          I have to assume the people knowing about this project must either be primarily Saul or NIN fans, as there was very little media coverage outside our direct influence. If that assumption is correct - that most of the people that chose to download Saul’s record came from his or my own fan-base - is it good news that less than one in five feel it was worth $5? I’m not sure what I was expecting but that percentage - primarily from fans - seems disheartening.

          Add to that: we spent too much (correction, I spent too much) making the record utilizing an A-list team and studio, Musicane fees, an old publishing deal, sample clearance fees, paying to give the record away (bandwidth costs), and nobody’s getting rich off this project.
          • TritonX, on 03/04/2008, -2/+4He admitted to spending too much to get the album done, that's because he wanted to follow the old model of music production. Using an outside studio and having an "A-list" and wanting to pay them what they are used to. They need to figure out the excess weight. 20% paying is still viable. I myself produces some music and it's really not easy to make it to the final product. Nobody wants to take the financial risks involved in the old production model and rightfully so. So bands will have to do more auto-production and self distribution over the internet and selling goods by themselves, cutting the middle man where they can. Who said making music was about getting rich ;P.
        • pirategaspard, on 03/04/2008, -1/+5Saul’s previous record was released in 2004 and has sold 33,897 copies.
          As of 1/2/08,
          154,449 people chose to download Saul’s new record.
          28,322 of those people chose to pay $5 for it, meaning:
          18.3% chose to pay.

          While the data can look disheartening, keep in mind there was no marketing at all and the album still sold well when compared to Saul's previous album. From this data I think we can roughly draw the conclusion that about as many people PAID for and download Saul's new album as they would've PAID for a CD. And they saved the marketing costs.

          I think when the data is released on NIN's Ghosts we'll find the same conclusion: Those that want to pay for music will pay (roughly equaling what the CD would sell), and those that want something for free will continue to leach (as well as provide free marketing for the artist).
      • mharriger, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1The ultra-super-duper-expensive-deluxe $300 version has already sold out of its 2500 copies, which means $750,000 gross. Even if it cost $100 per copy to manufacture and ship that edition, that's still a half million dollar profit right there. Of course I have no idea how much it cost to actually record the album, but I'd think he's at least breaking even just on the sales of the super-deluxe edition.
      • meatee, on 03/11/2008, -0/+0The reason Trent's "first try" wasn't a success is because it wasn't a NIN album. I had never heard of Saul Williams before Trent Reznor got involved, and after downloading the free version to hear what it sounded like, I didn't like it and deleted the mp3s. With this new NIN album, I ordered the CD version with the download included without even thinking twice.
    • Antixian, on 03/04/2008, -1/+10i was able to download using my link multiple times. i finally got it last night and it was worth the servers crashing!
    • Dorepoll, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1They are bringing back your link next week if you can wait.
    • happyfundave, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1the link is already back
    • kloche, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1Who knows when they may end up releasing the other stages. You paid your $5, so contact customer support, support@store.nin.com and they should help you resolve the issue.
    • thetanbark, on 03/04/2008, -0/+2I believe they store your IP the first time you hit the link. Then if you need to access the download later, you can, but only from that IP. I say that because I tried to download it at work, but it wouldn't let me after trying at home. Then later at home I could download it.
    • blorguehad, on 03/07/2008, -0/+1Yeah I foresaw these events so I just torrented it. I'll pay later when the crowd dies down. I kinda want the 75dollar one anyway.
  • atomicskip, on 03/04/2008, -5/+38Knowing my fellow nin fans, they may over analyze this. "Obama/Reznor '08???"
    • thedragon4453, on 03/04/2008, -1/+5See reply to utopia's comment above
    • DanOnTheMoon, on 03/04/2008, -1/+8Military-Industrial Music Complex, get it?
    • postalblowfish7, on 03/04/2008, -0/+4i am trying to believe
  • nugx, on 03/04/2008, -4/+11Reznor for CTO?
    • scooticery, on 03/04/2008, -3/+3heard
    • dafragsta, on 03/04/2008, -1/+3I'm pretty careful when using the word "fan" to apply to myself, because apparently fans must find no fault in the object of affection. As I said yesterday, I totally dig NIN but NIN is known for releasing actual songs with verse/chorus/verse formula. If Trent wants to go off and make another album like the Quake soundtrack, that's cool, but honestly, that was better than Ghosts as well. This sounds like studio noodling and it's not nearly as tight as your typical NIN album, but it's good for ambience, which means it's not going to get played a whole lot after the initial cool factor wears off, and it's also setting a poor example of what to expect when they release an album on the internet.

      I dig it. I bought it for $10, but it's not an NIN album as your expectations would have it. While I'm not out to bash them for doing something different, I am out to bash fans who will accept anything as a freshly shat gold turd just because it comes from Trent Reznor. Blind fanaticism would make a lot of Digg users hypocrites for railing on Republicans or other people with their heads in the sand to outside dissent.
      • HyPRpwR, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1Cheers to you! Trust me, I've been an NIN fan since the beginning in the late '80's......it's OK not to like every fart that comes out of Trent's ass. Musical genius, maybe, but Ghosts is not genius
      • kjd84, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1Ghosts is good to chill to its an instrumental album I don't know what you were expecting? and for Free or $5 how can you really complain. I don't even think this is a Halo is it?
    • compguy, on 03/04/2008, -0/+0Actually... I bought this because it isn't typical NIN. Well, I was going to buy it anyway to support the idea just like I did with Radiohead's album, but I actually like this one. If he does more in this style, both musically and this style of release, I'll definitely be buying it. I'll bet a huge number of people who bought this weren't actually fans of NIN. In case anyone cares, my favorites are: 10, 19, 24, 26, 29, 31, and 32.

      $10 for the 2 CD set and nearly 2 hours of music. Came to $16.99 with shipping. I've seen shorter albums on iTunes go for $19.99... the $16.99 for this one is still less than buying an album at a store and getting taxed on it. Amazing.
  • fadingsignal, on 03/04/2008, -10/+4Go Trent! To those who are so critical right out of the gate, give them a break - this is (AFAIK) the very first 100% self-release by a major label artist gone independent. There's going to be some bumps in the road while new models are tried and tested (including server load). That Radiohead PR stunt didn't quite count in my opinion since they sold a low-quality version missing several tracks only to release the CD shortly after - *this* is how it should be done and I encourage everybody to buy this!
    • TheControversy, on 03/04/2008, -4/+4missing several tracks? No I don't think so. Radiohead always has had a knack for creating additional box sets, compilations, EPs, and "deluxe sets". The same album you can buy in the store is the same one you can download on their website. No missing tracks.
    • terminal157, on 03/04/2008, -2/+7Try to be informed about what you criticize, please.
    • nasty365, on 03/04/2008, -0/+0i agree with the 2 former posts, and also, you have forgotten about Prince. he released an album (also on line and a hard copy) a few years ago. Trent has been my top musician and artist for many years now, but that dosent mean that us ninys get to talk down on others...
  • fragile00, on 03/04/2008, -7/+41And nothing can stop them now!
    • AtomsForWar, on 03/04/2008, -0/+21'cause they don't care - anymore.
      • evan119, on 03/04/2008, -0/+6the wretched ones were digging you guys down, i had to help you out.
        • asurroca, on 03/04/2008, -1/+1^----- Combo breaker?
        • BitBurner, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1Captain Caaaaaavvvvveeee Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!!!1111
  • jonvictorino, on 03/04/2008, -11/+45Dugg because Trent told me too and I'm a mindless drone.
  • Maksx, on 03/04/2008, -12/+6Obama-Reznor 08?
    • DanOnTheMoon, on 03/04/2008, -3/+1Bush's 11th Cousin/Bilderberg '08?
      • strictnein, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1Go back into the basement where you're safe.
  • hoffey, on 03/04/2008, -15/+103Wow, this article is stupid.

    Whats next? Obama gives homeless man a fish taco? Or how about.. Dick Cheney endorses Obama? No?

    Fine, we will stick with "NIN does something cool, Obama has nothing to do with it."
    • barfooz, on 03/04/2008, -3/+8Dugg for fish taco. Delicious fishy goodness.
    • kewidogg, on 03/04/2008, -1/+1"Excellent choice sir, Lobster stuffed with Tacos"
      • gbrendel, on 03/04/2008, -0/+0The best stuffed with the 2nd best!!!
  • jaybuster, on 03/04/2008, -8/+13Both have Al Gore to thank for it!
  • JNudda, on 03/04/2008, -7/+2One made history last night, the other may make his first big step (well, not really first, but you get the point) towards history tomorrow.
  • kinerry, on 03/04/2008, -27/+18Obama copied Paul's success, get it right
    • pintomp3, on 03/04/2008, -13/+25obama is getting 4% of the vote and has no delegates?
      • Jacob, on 03/04/2008, -3/+8Paul has delegates... Not a significant amount but he does have some.
      • Chirp08, on 03/04/2008, -1/+6phhs obama doesn't even have a blimp, fail.
    • DestroyFascism, on 03/04/2008, -6/+12He did though you evil bury people....
    • madfrogurt, on 03/04/2008, -6/+9Because we all know that Obama relied heavily on internet fringe groups and went without professional organization of grassroots right?
    • kinerry, on 03/04/2008, -15/+12Paul built the system, others are copying it.

      End of story, I don't care who you are, that's the plain truth.
      • obelisky, on 03/04/2008, -8/+6lol keep telling yourself that
      • pintomp3, on 03/04/2008, -1/+10actually, the bottom up style was built by dean's campaign. paul had success with, obama seems to have perfected it.
        • Craptacularama, on 03/06/2008, -0/+2Relax, this kid isnt old enough to know who Dean is
      • Tenbatsu404, on 03/04/2008, -4/+2It's a lot easier to perfect it when you've been anointed by the media since day one.
        • Flufflescump, on 03/04/2008, -0/+3That's funny, then what's Hillary "Inevitable" Clinton's problem?
    • vade79, on 03/04/2008, -1/+2Bad comparison. It's about being open, not raising money online.
    • dinot, on 03/04/2008, -1/+6Howard Dean would like to fix your ignorance.
    • Craptacularama, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1If by "success" you mean, nevermind, this is too easy
  • mal1964, on 03/04/2008, -7/+9Anyone know what kind of cigarettes Obama smokes? And don't say Newport's unless that's a fact.
    • Xanadude, on 03/04/2008, -4/+3Kools, I think.
    • hoffey, on 03/04/2008, -9/+11I think he quit to garner more votes.

      Just like how he retracted his statement supporting the legalization of marijuana. Just like how his drones go on and on about he didn't vote for the Patriot Act, when in fact he did. He will do and say anything to get elected, including giving up his freedom to smoke cigarettes.
    • missybombay, on 03/04/2008, -0/+3Marlboro
    • bethehammer, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1Camel Turkish Gold - the best =D
      • rarson, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1I just bought a pack of those today. Apparently it was too hard for the girl behind the counter to find the Camel Lights.

        I didn't mind though, Turkish Golds are good.
    • HueytheFreeman, on 03/04/2008, -0/+2Newport's unless that's a fact.
    • The42, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1I believe I heard that he quit at the beginning of the campaign, and that his wife claimed she made him do it. Like, "okay, I'll let you run for leader of the free world, but you have to stop smoking". Not sure if it's true, but that's what I heard. It IS a good idea though -- great for appealing to the younger crowd, for many of whom smoking is less socially acceptable.
  • turnem, on 03/04/2008, -3/+0yes that would be an interesting stuff to know
  • OrangeTide, on 03/04/2008, -22/+6Wow NiN and Obama referred to in one article on digg. I'm totally burying this dog *****.
  • slayernine, on 03/04/2008, -2/+4Trent is my hero.
  • jtq1, on 03/04/2008, -4/+53was this article written JUST to be on digg? i'm not even complaining, we should all be flattered.
    • thedragon4453, on 03/04/2008, -0/+17I have to agree. I am surprised TWSJ didnt include something about how Trent uses a mac, or one of them loves the iphone or something.
  • Spanq, on 03/04/2008, -14/+4This is going to ***** a lot of you idiots off, but can we stop sucking Trent's dick for ten seconds? Yes, it's nifty he's doing ***** on his own and it's even more neato he's giving some of it away for free, but Ghosts sounds like a bunch of Adobe Audition stock loops strung together like a turd crafted from a week of Colon Blow.

    He can do much better and I still wouldn't mind paying for it.
    • thailand1972, on 03/04/2008, -9/+3***** A - tired of all the Trent Is God comments. FFS, he's a rich guy who can afford to pull stunts like this and gets off on the publicity he gets for it, while doing what he enjoys. Good for him, I'm not knocking him for doing this - just the nauseating hero worshipping that follows makes me almost hate Reznor for invoking such a stream of vomit on the internet.
    • H0tKarl, on 03/04/2008, -6/+1He's the new Bono. (okay, that was over the line)
  • Aidje, on 03/04/2008, -3/+17They say that there's no such thing as Obamaspam, and yet even NIN's new release is turned into a pro-Obama event.
  • mlirblur, on 03/04/2008, -17/+12

    Is anyone else getting sick of hearing about Obama? The man's going to win this election. We get it. Just go ahead and mindlessly elect him already so I can stop hearing people get ecstatic about the emptiness of his hopey change-a-riffic platform.

    And NIN? Cmon, NIN's not that great either. I love how the man is a god on Digg, yet Niggy Tardust, that Saul Williams album that contained some of his finest production work ever, was met with a lukewarm response from people who dismissed it because it was hip-hop.
    • magicgoof, on 03/04/2008, -1/+5I downloaded Niggy, and I love it.

      I hate hip hop.
    • emildorbell, on 03/04/2008, -0/+5How was anything lukewarm about the response Niggy Tardust got on Digg? Were you even here when it hit?
    • happyfundave, on 03/04/2008, -0/+5Most critics credit his album The Downward Spiral as his finest production.
    • 3Den, on 03/04/2008, -2/+0Well produced it may be - but you can't compare Saul Williams with NiN...they are completely different.



    • hmcook87, on 03/09/2008, -0/+1well you can hardly blame people for dismissing hip-hop....
  • Radar3D, on 03/04/2008, -1/+16So what we have learned from both is that to be successful on the Internet, it helps greatly to be successful offline first. Would anyone consider buying Ghosts if it was made by some no name? Not likely. I have great respect for both, but there's not really a "lesson" to be learned from either that is repeatable by most.
    • thailand1972, on 03/04/2008, -0/+6Agree, and it gets repetitive telling Diggers how it works - established artists can afford to do this - it's actually rather a good publicity move and you earn kudos for sticking to that man everyone hates (by essentially offering your music for free, with payment options for fans such as signed vinyl, more tracks etc). Unknown artists have been giving their music away online for over a decade with PayPal contribution buttons but to no effect because everyone's still too busy sucking the dicks of artists who're signed to labels.
      • antipoet, on 03/04/2008, -0/+2Right, did you notice the PirateBay note on his site too? I thought it was an interesting extra stab to use PirateBay to distribute an 'official' torrent of Ghosts I with all the controversy they've been facing of late.
      • rarson, on 03/05/2008, -0/+3Okay, but you know what? If all the major artists who can afford to adopt the new model do so, then that might actually force the record companies to be much more proactive in scouting out new upcoming talent. In effect, they'd be like major league talent scouts, helping new artists make it big so that they could work on their own. Record companies HAVE to realize that technology has changed their way of business, so either they adapt and realize that their role has changed, or they will die out. They're simply not needed anymore for anything other than promoting new talent and maybe pressing some CD's, which even that they don't do very well (since everything gets leaked before it releases).

        On a side note, I still prefer buying tangible mediums over digital copies. I like having a CD, with liner notes and everything. But I'll pay $5 to download a good album. I still like to listen to a complete album before buying it though, unless it's an established artist that I really like. So even though I buy CD's, I usually download them first, but I only keep music I like and I pay for music that I like.
    • happyfundave, on 03/04/2008, -1/+1Many artists are now growing famous through the internet, especially through youtube and myspace. Trent is just fleshing out a new business model that offers an alternative to amazon.com and itunes and people are responding very well to. The idea isn't that he is giving all his music away for free but just enough so that anyone even curious about the album can get a good taste of it and then choose if they want to buy it.
  • Shiftyeyedgoat, on 03/04/2008, -2/+22Dugg for Trent Reznor's business model, not for Obama's passing internet usage.
    • ronaldinho, on 03/04/2008, -2/+1Say all you want about Nine Inch Nails (I'm not a big fan of them myself), but I got to applaud Reznor for willing to experiment with online business models which I believe will eventually be a hit. Wait till better bands and artists copy Reznor (and Radiohead)
      • kjd84, on 03/05/2008, -1/+2Buried for saying there is a better artist than Reznor!!! Personal opinion I know but Reznor is my fave Artist!
      • rarson, on 03/05/2008, -1/+1You might not like the music, but it's hard to come across a band as great as Nine Inch Nails. I mean, just look at the way Trent is able to utilize such a variety of talented musicians, and different instruments and effects, which results in the constant evolution of their stage sound. And the studio albums are similar in that they tend to sound very different as well.

        Then again, I suppose if you don't like them, then you're missing out on all that good stuff.
  • promiscmode, on 03/04/2008, -1/+14Trent's music was my first music purchase in over 2 years. $5 for 36 tracks. Finally someone's listening to their customer base.
    • AdebisiTheGamer, on 03/04/2008, -0/+15amazing the value you can get when the RIAA and the labels don't take a cut....
      • postalblowfish7, on 03/04/2008, -1/+5they cut out a slice then take the rest of the pie.
      • ronaldinho, on 03/04/2008, -0/+3time for an obligatory ***** THE RIAA
  • agimat, on 03/04/2008, -11/+7What lesson, is it that people on the internets are ***** gullible?
  • myass666mlong, on 03/04/2008, -6/+1a ***** i love this band !!!!!!!!!
  • AltF, on 03/04/2008, -6/+1radiohead did the free music thing too with their album in-rainbows, but most people preferred downloading from p2p/torrent.
    • Mediakill, on 03/04/2008, -0/+0Yes, and in a single move, Trent Reznor has kicked Radiohead's business model in the balls and made himself the most talked about musician on the web...Again. If it hadn't been for the site crash, this would have been a flawless victory.
  • soulbadguy, on 03/04/2008, -0/+4you know who also made history? Conan, Colbert and Stewart.
    • Pittance, on 03/04/2008, -2/+1Being funny and satirical while pretending to do the news? That isnt that new. Faking and altering interviews for ratings? Nope. Sure they are funny, but how is that making history?
  • nutniqs, on 03/04/2008, -0/+9its a series of tubes, its not a big truck, it's not just something you can dump something on.
    • asurroca, on 03/04/2008, -1/+1NIN needed Ted Stevens managing their servers. He knows everything about the interwebs....
  • uhohzombies, on 03/04/2008, -2/+21Who the hell wrote that article? BitTorrent is an "underground filing-trading service" now? I didn't realize that all the legitimate commercial users of the protocol suddenly abandoned it and left it strictly to the software pirates and copyright abusers.

    Not to mention "filing-trading"... does this guy have any grasp on technology whatsoever?
    • 3Den, on 03/04/2008, -3/+1The Pirate Bay is an underground file-trading service. He posted the .torrent to TPB.


    • dieseltravis, on 03/05/2008, -0/+2I thought that was pretty funny too. Assuming they meant "file-trading" which is still wrong since it was more "file-sharing". Hardly underground as well.
  • ADVIZR, on 03/04/2008, -3/+3Obama 2008, with Trent, will help usher in the new era of the Music-Industrial Complex.
    • DanOnTheMoon, on 03/04/2008, -2/+2lulz
    • TurbNasty, on 03/04/2008, -4/+1how ***** retarded is the phrase "music-industrial complex". what you watch JFK or something.
      • ADVIZR, on 03/04/2008, -1/+3It was meant to be jokingly stupid. You may now continue browsing the world wide web, oh wise one.
      • TurbNasty, on 03/11/2008, -0/+1my bad.
    • smackjer, on 03/04/2008, -0/+0Of course you mean complex industrial music, which is what NIN is (or was) all about.
  • RRJackson, on 03/04/2008, -4/+8Let's praise NIN and somehow stick Obama's name in there even though there's not even the most tenuous connection between what the two of them are doing! What's next? "Obama remasters 'Pretty Hate Machine' and headlines Lollapalooza'!"? ***** Obama-branding.
  • TheControversy, on 03/04/2008, -9/+2This is nothing new or groundbreaking. Radiohead did it first. All they are doing is copying them.
    • db74, on 03/04/2008, -1/+13LOL, you don't know what your talking about (The details I mean).
      Radiohead dipped their toes in. Trent Reznor has jumped in with both feet.
      Also the super deluxe edition which was $300 a pop SOLD OUT in 48 hours
      • antibastard, on 03/04/2008, -1/+1while i agree with you, the reason the $300 version sold out so quickly is because there were only 2500 made. there was no limit on the radiohead box set.
    • BrokenDrum27, on 03/04/2008, -0/+0Yeah... You do know that Reznor came up with the idea waaaaaaaaaaaaay before the release of In Rainbows, right? He just didn't have any material to release then.
  • RRJackson, on 03/04/2008, -11/+2C'mon Ohio and Texas. Today's the day to give Senator Clinton the votes she needs.
    • artisresistance, on 03/04/2008, -2/+3I urge all Texans to cast their vote for Obama twice! Once in the primary during the day and again after the polls close at the precinct caucuses. Texas is the only state that allows this, and Bill and Hillary have been telling their voters to do this from the beginning. Let's even this up...every delegate counts!
  • DanOnTheMoon, on 03/04/2008, -3/+1Okay, fine, the media has coronated the guy already. Enough.
  • wvdavis, on 03/04/2008, -4/+1Tried to download the album all night, finally got it at four this morning. IMO, I would have rather paid Apple another $4.99, and been able to have download it without the hassles.
    • Aidje, on 03/04/2008, -0/+3The artist gets hardly anything by selling through Apple. Selling direct is a far better business model—unless, of course, you *want* Apple to take a huge cut. Not my cup of proverbial tea.
    • BabyWookie, on 03/04/2008, -0/+3Apple's quality and DRM are ***** though.
  • thallenthur, on 03/04/2008, -3/+1I really hope that some guys will put this album for download on their websites just because they are allowed to do so, to promote Reznor's music and to support the free culture movement.
    • cadmiumpaint, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1free culture movement? you mean where copyrights don't exist and artists can't make a living off of their work? no thanks.
      • thallenthur, on 03/04/2008, -1/+0This record is released under Creative Commons license. Read this, you'll get the point:
        http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/u ...
        BTW you confused free culture with piracy.
        • cadmiumpaint, on 03/05/2008, -0/+2it seems from what i've been observing, people assume creative commons = free to torrent/take/use/not pay for.

          it seems that creative commons just panders to piracy and file sharing and cripples the artist. It still seems to be against the artist making money off of their work. As someone who creates art for a living i don't understand why retaining a copyright and making a living off of your hard work is now evil
          • thallenthur, on 03/05/2008, -1/+0And that assumption is wrong. I don't know why you're saying CC cripples the artist. I guess an artist has a freedom to release everything he made in a way that is right for him. Well, Trent chose CC and he did that on a purpose. I'm probably gonna get myself that $75 Deluxe Edition thingy and if my friends who are not NIN fans want to listen to it, I'm gonna feel free to copy it for them. Of course if they like the music I'm gonna encourage them to pay for the record and support Trent. TR new what he was doing when releasing that record under that license.
            Still, you don't know how copyleft licenses work. They are always based on copyright law and that's why the copyright always belongs to the artist. Sometimes it's just the people that forget to respect the copyright or forget to give the credit to the author.
            Creative Commons doesn't have to do anything with the price of the record. As you can see, Trent still makes money out of selling this record although he made it legal to share it freely over the internet.
            Another thing is making remixes of that record. People won't have to use the remix.nin.com site to upload their tracks, they will be able to release them on their own websites under the same conditions as the original thing.
          • cadmiumpaint, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1from what i see in the world, and read on places like Digg, there seems to be a collective understanding that creative commons = free to steal or royalty free as long as you give credit. whenever i see the thing being referred to its in that context. I see people rip off Flickr photos all the time and say "hey its free...its creative commons!" i've seen them take it and use it on small commercial things and cite creatve commons. Ive seen people who treat creative commons/flickr work as a free stock photo site and use it commercially not paying anyone for the work they steal. Its one of those things where what it ACTUALLY is, is different from how it is PERCEIVED to be.

          • thallenthur, on 03/05/2008, -0/+0So the problem is not the license but the people who don't respect the copyrights and the rights given to the others. If the people don't know what CC is all about perhaps it's our time to educate them.
      • kjd84, on 03/05/2008, -1/+1That is why Reznor has sold all 2500 of the ultra deluxe copies of this at $300 a pop and all the $10 packs he sold and the $75 packs and the $5 downloads Creative Commons really screwed him over there and its only been released for a day or two. Are you thick?
        He didn't have to release it on Creative Commons. . .
        • cadmiumpaint, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1Reznor is a special case. You and I or 99.999% of the world could never do what he's done with this model. He sold all 2500 of his deluxe copies because he knew he had at least 2500 suckers out there that would pay ANYTHING that had his name on it. NIN fans would literally pay $1k for his spit in a jar. He knows that and thats why he provided that high end price point.

          I was refering to my observations on digg where everyone talks about copyright being evil, and creative commons share share share for no money being the only option for creatives. again NIN is a special case. it is interesting to see him release it this way. there aren't many other artists that could pull it off.
    • Jimbuck, on 03/05/2008, -0/+0Trent already released the first portion of it online to several bit torrent sites....I say pay 5 bucks and give the man what he deserves....he's independent now for christs' sake....support him.
      • thallenthur, on 03/05/2008, -1/+0Dude, I never wrote I'm not gonna pay for the record, I just want everyone to respect the right to copy it, redistribute it, share it, remix it etc. We can do just about everything with this record and that's what TR wants.
        Having said that, I will support Trent, I'm gonna pay for the album but if somebody comes by and asks me what NIN I'm gonna copy the record (since it's totally legit) for him and if he/she likes it I'm gonna encourage that person to go to nin.com and buy the thing.
        It just blows my freakin mind that only a small portion of digg users know what they are allowed to do with this album.
  • bat-21, on 03/04/2008, -1/+17The lesson is if you want to send large files to a lot of people in a short period of time, use P2P. What should have happened is after someone paid $5, the confirmation email would have contained a unique password giving the customer access to a private Bittorrent tracker with Trent's servers acting as the initial seeders.
    • weeman43302, on 03/04/2008, -0/+3that would have made everything so much easier
    • kjd84, on 03/05/2008, -0/+2Not everyone on the net understands bit torrent like you and I!
    • hmcook87, on 03/09/2008, -0/+1yea, i think having to go through bittorrent to get something people are paying for wouldn't go down very well. typically when you're paying actual money for a download you expect them to fork out for an http download.
  • torressr3, on 03/04/2008, -0/+2i'm buying that album right now!!!!
  • wonder102, on 03/04/2008, -0/+2NIN has been changing the way things are done for quite some time now, and I will always be a faithful listener.
  • habenneas, on 03/04/2008, -1/+2Lynxcache.org mirror: http://www.lynxcache.org/usr/0/Business_Technology ...
  • pictureDIGGER, on 03/04/2008, -15/+12Please shut the ***** up about Obama, he is the lesser of 3 evils.
    • cidman2001, on 03/04/2008, -3/+6I suspect you may have made the most accurate comment in this whole thread....
    • Pittance, on 03/04/2008, -2/+4I agree. Obama is probably the best "politician" for president. But that isnt a very luxurious standard to be in.
    • StanSynthesis, on 03/05/2008, -2/+1Untrue. Ron Paul is the best.
  • RTLM, on 03/04/2008, -0/+3Show me more value like this and I'll show you someone who would buy more music. For years the only new music I've bought has been Cd's I got at actual concerts. Mainly because the record labels have so incredibly over priced the music out there. Even at a $1 track it just isn't worth it to have to buy DRM encumbered music.
    Thirty-six tracks for $5 from an artist I already love, in a format I can play anywhere! I didn't think twice, and went straight out to Amazon MP3 (the main sight was hammered) and grabbed Ghosts as soon as I found out about it. If more music was released this way I'd buy a lot more of it.
    I do wish it had been encoded in Ogg Vorbis but that's really just splitting hairs at this point. MP3 may be patent encumbered but at least it doesn't have DRM.
    • Linh, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1should have just waited out the site... mp3/flac/apple lossless
    • leezard, on 03/04/2008, -0/+2Same here, I'd gladly BUY more music if it was all provided with options like this $5 for digital or $10 for the physical CDs AND the download.
  • photobitch, on 03/04/2008, -5/+0soooo after being SOOOO excited about Ghosts.....but then FINALLY being able to download it...not so excited, Obama wins this one lol
  • atomicwedgie, on 03/04/2008, -1/+5Not a huge fan of either but mad props to NIN for their thinking!
  • ekrekel, on 03/04/2008, -0/+12Trent for Prez...He fixes the internetz
  • Bravesguy18, on 03/04/2008, -2/+34Reznor also plans to release a $500 version that includes 2 extra polka songs and several strands of his pubes.
    • plizard, on 03/04/2008, -0/+6omg dna cloning ftw
    • blueZhift, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1any you know, somebody out there would actually buy that. seriously, this is the future. it'll be extras like that where the real profits will be made. the music itself, other than being artistic expression, is what will help the artist sell other stuff in order to make a living. remember, tv shows were made in order to get you to watch commercials and buy the sponsor's products.
      • asurroca, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1That's not all...it would sell for significantly more than $500 on eBay too....
    • ronaldinho, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1I'm not sure if I will want them, but hey that's just me
    • JanetteRaven, on 03/04/2008, -0/+0I'd sure like a Trent clone.
    • milleniumstar, on 03/05/2008, -0/+0THAT IS HYSTERICAL!!!
      Quite sad, but we all know if he did that someone out there would buy it. Probably for over $1000.-
    • Jimbuck, on 03/05/2008, -0/+0I think that goes for almost any well-known person.....celebrity status in america is worshipped and followed way too closely.
  • plizard, on 03/04/2008, -1/+1i met trent reznor once.
    • myass666mlong, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1and? what happen...?
    • Chirp08, on 03/04/2008, -0/+3i saw trent reznor in a piece of toast!
      • GhostFreeman, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1So did I. I framed that piece of toast.

        And then a squirrel snuck in and ate it. Every day I make a new piece of toast in hopes it reappears.
  • cornswalled, on 03/04/2008, -0/+3"Obama campaign has made available its database of supporters to anyone who wants access to the information, empowering volunteers."

    What a well spun way to say "He made the mailing list available to everyone who wants to spam, telemarket and harass them." It must really suck to be an Obama supporter right about now.
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