horatio said:

i agree.

i'd love to experience this performed live in a planetarium or somesuchshit. heck, give me a good laser show and i don't even need it to be live.

Anxiety said:

agreed on the entire piece.. it is quite something experienced as a whole.. not sure if I could just dive into an individual track...

Nine Inch Nails’ “Ghosts I-IV” Makes Trent Reznor an Instant Millionaire

Rolling Stone
3/13/08

Trent Reznor has gone public with the sum total of all the money he made in first week sales after self-releasing his instrumental album Ghosts I-IV: $1,619,420.

The album, released on March 2nd in a multitude of different formats at nin.com, “immediately sold out” of its run of 2,500 “Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition” versions (complete with vinyl, deluxe packaging and a Reznor autograph), each with a $300 price tag.

In all, 781,917 transactions were made for the album, with people either downloading a quarter of the album for free, downloading the entire album for $5, purchasing a physical copy for $10 or getting the non-ultra-deluxe limited edition version for $75.

Unlike Radiohead, who have still not released the total numbers and dollar figures from their In Rainbows experiment, Reznor likely revealed his first-week stats as a way to show fellow artists in the same weight class how successful they can be without the help of a major label. We’re sure Reznor and Thom Yorke will have a nice laugh about all this if they do in fact headline Lollapalooza.

Ghosts I-IV is still available for download on NIN’s site, with double-CD sets due in stores on April 8th.

POOK said:

lossless is great!!

Anxiety said:

Now, that's putting art into action. His music is taking to a whole different level w/ the imagery and so fourth.

nin.com updated with THIS

13 March 2008: film festival
Hello-
First of all, a sincere THANK YOU for the response to Ghosts. We are all amazed at the reaction for what we assumed would be a quiet curiosity in the NIN catalog. My faith in all of you has been restored - let's all go have coffee somewhere (my treat)!

Today we announce the expansion of the Ghosts project into the visual world. This record began as an experiment with us using sound as a means to describe visuals. Early in the project we thought it would be interesting to see what the community could create / collaborate on as a reaction to the music we were making. We wanted to keep the canvas as blank as possible for you, hence the lack of descriptive song titles and the primarily textural artwork and packaging.
So here's the plan: we've teamed up with YouTube to host a "film festival" around Ghosts. The concept is for you to take whatever tracks you feel inspired by from Ghosts and create what you feel should accompany them visually. You will be able to see all of the submissions, and a team of us (including me) will be sorting through them and setting aside ones we feel are exceptional. Eventually (within a couple of months?) we will present a virtual "film festival" with me and some special guests presenting selections of your work.
This isn't a contest and you don't win elaborate prizes - it's meant to be an experiment in collaboration and a chance for us to interact beyond the typical one-way artist-to-fan relationship. We've discussed some interesting ways this could go, including multiple installments of the online "film festivals," to broadcast TV specials, to a one-time live performance of the entire Ghosts record with your visuals involved. It really depends on how this progresses and develops.
We are all very much looking forward to what you come up with, and hope you enjoy the experience. Visit our YouTube channel for information on how to participate.
TR

posted by Trent Reznor at 10:42 AM pst, from los angeles.

evenstar said:

I was thinking it would be great to have some visuals to go along with it.
This is going to be interesting indeed :non:

evenstar said:

Trent will not only be KING of the ARG... now he will be an INTERACTIVE INTERNET GIANT among men... and rock stars!

Seriously, there are some very cool ideas coming from that NIN camp these days.

Copycat said:

snap.... amazing

the internet is the new MTV.

well, i guess it has been for a while, but stuff like NIN and radiohead releasing hugely successful albums online kinda validates the fact that MTV's initials are now WWW.

Anxiety said:

I am so excited it worked out for him.. he will now have full confidence to pursue his musical catalog this way... which means more music in a fast pace way... i can't wait!

Sdldawn said:

he has such a large and rabid fan base that as long as he's able to keep up the quality control he's maintained thus far, he can pretty much release music however he likes and it's gonna get gobbled up in droves.

Anxiety said:

yep.. he has my credit card backing him up.. thats fo damn sure

Shhhh!


Can you hear it?


It's the sound of the music business getting 'd



Which has got to be like a big to the biz, and is causing them to have a


I to you, Trent! You ROCK!


I think I'll have a break.

uh oh...Trent be pimp smacking up Radiohead

-----

http://arstechnica.com/ne...inept.html

Reznor: Radiohead offering was insincere, industry is inept

By David Chartier | Published: March 13, 2008 - 09:47PM CT

Major musicians are exploring the market potential for directly interacting with their fans and releasing music independently. Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead both made headlines recently for experimenting with Internet-based releases, but NIN frontman Trent Reznor has just called Radiohead's effort "insincere."

"I think the way [Radiohead] parlayed it into a marketing gimmick has certainly been shrewd," Reznor said when speaking to Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Michael Atkin. "But if you look at what they did, though, it was very much a bait and switch to get you to pay for a MySpace-quality stream as a way to promote a very traditional record sale."

Reznor is referring to Radiohead's release of "In Rainbows" as lossy 160kbps (max) MP3 downloads, which many would argue are sub-par when compared to DRM-free offerings from Amazon and iTunes Store (both of which offer 256kbps DRM-free music). Furthermore, Radiohead's album is also no longer offered as a digital download, as the band openly stated that they were still going to rely on traditional labels and distribution channels for the rest of In Rainbows' sales.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Reznor continued, "but I don't see that as a big revolution [that] they're kinda getting credit for." In addition to the quality of Radiohead's MP3s, NIN's frontman also took issue with the band's omission of artwork and altogether not taking care of the fans. "To me that feels insincere. It relies upon the fact that it was quote-unquote 'first,' and it takes the headlines with it."

This new movement of independent, DRM-free music distribution is indeed undiscovered country, and both of these bands have wildly different approaches. Nine Inch Nails was among the first major acts to completely break ties with its label, diving head first into the new realm of fan interactivity and digital distribution. Radiohead, on the other hand, is clearly still depending on its label, in hindsight classifying its "In Rainbows" experiment as more of a toes-in-the-water move than the sort of bold departure on par with Nine Inch Nails'.

Were both bands' experiments a success? There's no doubt. While Radiohead has declined to offer actual numbers from its "pay if you want" experiment, frontman Thom Yorke has stated that "in terms of digital income, we've made more money out of this record than out of all the other Radiohead albums put together, forever."

Nine Inch Nails, on the other hand, told the Chicago Tribune on March 12 that "Ghosts" has brought in 781,917 transactions from the website so far, netting a total revenue of $1.6 million in just one week. Not too bad for virtually zero marketing of an instrumental album. Instead of offering a limited digital download, then switching to CD distribution like Radiohead, however, Nine Inch Nails has offered a variety of formats—including lossless downloads, optical discs, and even vinyl—on its own from the start. Reznor also doesn't show any signs of cutting off digital downloads, either.

When Atkin asked whether the labels would learn from successes like "Ghosts," Reznor didn't sound enthusiastic. "The level of ineptitude I've seen at the major labels is stunning. The people in charge of a lot of the digital technologies and the aspects that are decimating their business that I've seen are people that seem to not even be on the Internet."

To be sure, any venture into the online distribution space that favors the consumers fans is a good one. Reznor may have a point, however, in saying that Radiohead didn't quite go far enough. By controlling both the creative process and distribution method for "Ghosts," then offering a wide variety of formats and even a "try before you buy" free sample, Nine Inch Nails produced a quality experience that sets the bar pretty high for those who follow.

Anxiety said:

horatio said:

IT EASY TO CONVERT TO MP3 TOO

POOK ONLY BUY CD FOR GOOD SOUND!

POOK BUY MORE DOWNLOAD IF ON LOSSLESS!

AHEM PRINCE

Look at my new avvie!

Woohoo!

That article is 100% correct: what Radiohead did was really kinda a sham.

Radiohead offered 10 lossy (160kbps MP3) tracks with no artwork and no extras. About a month later, they finally released the album cover online to appease iTunes users.

NIN offered 36 lossless downloads with artwork (different artwork for each track, no less) as well as "extras" such as wallpapers and a PDF booklet. For $5. In all seriousness - wow.

Se7en said:

Trent actually set the standard here - good for him!

Se7en said:

Thats what i'm sayin. That is how you do it.

Sdldawn said:

http://prince.org/msg/8/265731

I keep forgetting to post this - a music blog I read from time to time.

Great write up on Ghosts and what it potentially means to the music industry:

http://www.tinymixtapes.c...Nails,5829

DiminutiveRocker said:

Nice