Ghosts I - IV: Nine Inch Nails' New Take on Online Music Marketing

After several months of photo blogs of dessicated factories and mini-rants on the state of the recording industry on the front page of nin.com, Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor released the 36-track, instrumental epic Ghosts I-IV online. The album appeared on the site Sunday evening after weeks of Reznor's vague one-liners on the front page of nin.com. In previous blogs, Reznor noted that his separation from Interscope Records would allow him more freedom to promote and distribute music in his own way. One of the greatest telltale signs that Reznor is enjoying his newfound artistic freedom lies in the album's Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license and his statement that "more volumes of Ghosts are likely to appear in the future" (http://ghosts.nin.com/main/more_info).

Perhaps seeing the error of his ways after becoming "disheartened" with the sales of Saul Williams' The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust, Reznor offers up his own take on the "pay-as-you-wish" model of Radiohead's In Rainbows. Where NiggyTardust was offered as free lower quality files or $5 high quality files, has an elaborate pricing system.

Ghosts I can be downloaded from ghosts.nin.com for free. Reznor himself posted an official torrent and statement to torrent site Pirate Bay. There is a $5 mp3 download option of the full Ghosts I-IV with additional 40-page album art PDF and wallpapers available through the official site, Amazon.com and Artists in Residence. The $10 2xCD version can be pre-ordered to be shipped April 8. The $75 deluxe version includes 2xCD, stereo Blu-ray disc with exclusive slide show, a DVD of the multi-tracks (Reznor encourages fans to remix and reconstruct his songs), and an art-book in a large fabric slipcase. The deluxe version will ship May 1. The $300 ultra-deluxe package, limited to 2500 copies, includes the deluxe offerings plus a 4 LP vinyl set in fabric slipcase and 2 limited edition Giclee prints. Each set of the ultra-deluxe package is numbered and autographed by Reznor.

Update: As of 3/4/2008, the ultra-deluxe package is sold out.