Mon:12-05-2008

- Nine Inch Nails Give New Album For Free

The Radiohead Revolution Continues...

Nine Inch Nails are proving the old Janet Jackson right - the best things in life really are free.

Going against the curve of most pop stars of today (who often try to poach every dollar from fans via endorsements, merchandise, clothing lines, fast food and the like Madonna's recent hook up with ticket scalpers for profit is a great example) Nine Inch Nails are aiming at true art, doing what they can to ensure that they obtain the most exposure for their music, while also showing the fans their appreciation.

They've done this through posting the new full-length Nine Inch Nails album, The Slim, online as a free digital download.

Trent Reznor discussed the album giveaway on the band's website, saying: "as a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new Nine Inch Nails album one hundred per cent free, exclusively via nin.com. The music is available in a variety of formats... all free. All downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits."

A sceptic might say that the band's action is not a big deal, since most music can be illegally downloaded anyway. But this step removes the illegality, and shows band lovers some love. And while the record industry has often been criticized for fighting the piracy problem in a stubborn and one dimensional fashion, counter measures are evolving into a kind of innovative consciousness on behalf of some musicians in terms of the way that musicians sell and distribute music.

Giving away music is not completely new, with Radiohead kicking off the "revolution" last year. The band released "In Rainbows" online, allowing fans to pay what they wanted and many fans paid nothing. More recently, Coldplay released their latest single and offered it for 2 years online for free.

For those who like to kick it old school, NIN still plan to release the physical copy of their album, making a CD and vinyl version available in July. Demand strategies may yet make other selling means profitable for a releasing band.

But Trent has always been a vocal opponent of corporate music's 'traditional practices', previously saying that "as a reward for being a 'true fan', you get ripped off."

It figures that a 'true muso' might try to kiss the hands that feed them.

By Stephen Mai

Catch more goss on our daily program "MTV News" by clicking through to Overdrive