Ghosts I-IV

I have to hand it to Trent Reznor. He is keeping things interesting and asserting himself as a music pioneer. Nine Inch Nails' second coming is proving to be a very worth while venture. Nine Inch Nails made their mark in the early 90's and seemed to be living in TDS's shadow. Last year they reinvented themselves when they dropped a fantastic concept album that sonically was just as impressive as it's elaborate backdrop and cross-media presentation. Later in the year, Trent produced an album for Saul Williams and helped him to distribute his album much the same way that Radiohead first released their new record. Go to a site to download it and either pay for it or not. Bring the music directly to the people and let them decide the value. Saul didn't fair as well as Radiohead in this venture. Most of the downloads were done for free. I would be one of those people that downloaded it for free. However, I wouldn't have considered the Saul album if it weren't for free. Radiohead has a strong and dedicated fan base that pretty much knows that they will like the music, so it has an implied value from the get go. Saul Williams was a wildcard. I believe that the abundance of albums that were downloaded for free was a good trade off for exposure. In any case, it was an interesting experiment in music distribution. On top of all of that, he launched the remix.nin site where he invited fans to remix and share nin tunes for free.
Now Trent has taken what he has learned from this experience and joined further in the experiment. Ghosts I-IV is a new NIN record that is entirely instrumental. Something that Trent has talked about doing for years, but was never a good business move while on a major label. On his own, he can do what he wants. The album is available through nin.com in a number of formats. Trent has also paid close attention to who the music listening community is. There is the cheapy 5 dollar download version for those who don't care about the artwork and packaging. There is the double cd for those who still like to physically have something to show for their music purshases, and there are a few very elaborate and overpriced limited edition packages for the real collectors. The prices for the limited edition packages were obscene, so I had to pass on those. All of the packages come with the instant download version so you don't have to wait for the tunes (very cool). I look forward to reviewing it in the near future.