forgive me if there's already a topic on this, but nothing came up in the search . . . you've all probably heard of this by now but for those that haven't, on Sunday March 2 Nine Inch Nails' latest album Ghosts I-IV was released Ghosts is a 36 track instrumental album consisting of 4 nine track sets (Ghosts One through Four) what sets this album apart isn't the 36 un-named tracks, or that they're all instrumental, but that it's a direct release available for immediate digital download. Ghosts I is available absolutely free the rest are priced as follows: Free - digital download of the first 9 tracks DRM free as well as a 40 page pdf, and extras such as wallpapers and other web graphics $5 - digital download of all 36 tracks including the pdf and other extras $10 - everything on 2 CDs to be shipped April 8 as well as access to the digital download $75 - Deluxe Edition - Hardcover fabric slipcase including 2 CDs, a DVD with all tracks in multitrack format (yay remixes!), and a Blu-Ray disc with HD audio and slideshow $300 - Ultra Deluxe Limited Edition - everything listed above for the Deluxe, and also 4 Vinyl LPs, and 3 hardcover art books, signed by Trent Reznor of course the Ultra edition is sold out already I hopped on a torrent and liked what I heard, so decided to get the 2 CD set. The music is quite hard to describe, it's at the same time consonant and dissonant. very moody, and relaxing. I fell asleep to it last night I like the way things are heading with direct releases from the artists. It puts the art back in the control of the artists, instead of the studios who engineer the artists' work according to what will 'sell' this new world of distribution also allows the artists to potentially make more money than through a record label, since their sales aren't paying the salaries of the suits [edit] and yeah I was also one of those people who got the Radiohead Discbox
Not to mention, it's released under a Creative Commons license which permits distribution and derivative works as long as they are noncommercial. I think Ghosts IV is the best part of the whole set. It is a good set of tracks, regardless, though. A bit minimalist for NIN, but it brings back fond memories of the instrumentals from The Fragile.
yeah if I had the money I'd have gotten the set with the multitrack versions . . . if for nothing more than to see how the pros do it
It's great to see artists like Reznor and Radiohead try different methods of distribution. The industry as a whole will be viewing efforts like these under a very large microscope.
Will this actually be available in stores on April 8th? I've been listening to it online, it's quite good. But I seem to like anything he does, so I'm biased. Creative Commons license means I could use the songs in a movie as long as I wasn't to make any money off that movie, right? Thanks for posting this. I hadn't been to the NIN web site in awhile, so this flew in under my radar.
I'll download the free part and check it out. I enjoy NIN, but I'm broke right now (plus, I want to check out the whole instrumental thing and see if I like it first).
The CC license they used allows you to: * Copy, display, distribute, and perform the work. * Make derivative works such as remixes. ...provided you: * Make no money from such activities. * Give proper credit to NIN. * License any derivative works with a license compatible with the original CC license. It's a very liberal license for a relatively mainstream artist to use. That was actually the most surprising thing about it.
Funny, I thought about starting a thread on this the other day but I wasn't sure if someone would be interested. I also downloaded the album and must say I'm impressed. I like the consequent way in which Trent Reznor released it. I check nin.com pretty much every day, so I was veeeery surprised when suddenly there was a short message from Trent which said something like "Here's our new album, have fun with it!" I think releasing a 36 track instrumental album really shows how independent he has become as an artist. This album goes directly to the fans. I like the album so far. Most of the tracks are reminiscent of the Fragile era or the Still album (which mainly consisted of discarted Fragile tracks after all). I found that most of the tracks are to short. Maybe it's just me but just when I get into the song it suddenly ends after only two minutes. Some of the tracks seem repetetive, but that's okay. So far I like the louder ones more. I'm delighted it has The Dresden Dolls' Brian Viglione on some tracks. Am I the only one who thinks Ghosts doesn't really sound like the name of a NIN album?
I havent even gotten around to listening to Broken or the right side of the Fragile yet! Thats my biggest problem when it comes to music, I dont really have time or money to listen to everything. And then I have this thing were sometimes I need to concentrate on something & I cant have any noise distractions at all or go through periods where I just dont want to listen to any music. I guess I like music but Im just not a music lover.
It's very remarkable. Kudos to Trent for this. I'm not familiar with GarageBand, being a Windows user, but I believe he released his last album in a way that it could be edited with the software, allowing people to make their own mixes. Pretty cool. It does sound unusual. Nice avatar, by the way.
^ It also contained all sound bits in WAV format. So you could load them into any music sequencing program — even under Windows. Thank you!
I just gots no idea how to do that. I'm still figuring out Photoshop. I like the way he blinks in it. It's sort of unsettling.
Thanks to the new 20k restriction for avatars, blinking is the only thing I can make Robert do. BTW, I like your avatar. Thor looks very colorful.
Well, I DL'ed the free nine songs and I must say, I remember why I stopped buying NIN albums after Halo 13 (I own 15 up to that point). But thanks for the freebie, Trent.
Interesting "concept" "albums". I can probably get about 1 CD's worth of really repeatable music out of it that I can listen to in the car. Overall I give them a B-. RAMA
I downloaded the whole thing earlier this week (wow, a double album worth of music for $5 ... astonishing!) I'm a big NIN fan, and I've always been particularly fond of their more experiental instrumental tracks, so needless to say this new work was right up my alley. It's a really compelling listening experience. It's also exactly the type of thing that a conventional label never, ever would have released. I have to say that Reznor is fucking brilliant in the way he handled it - the partially free distribution method and sudden "surprise" album release got it a huge amount of free publicity. I imagine this will end up being quite a lucrative release for him, given that most of the revenue is coming directly from digital sales, which have a lower cost structure than CDs.
Off topic here, but I noticed your sig....a holodeck or similar means of diversion would be essential to the crew's health. In plans for modern long duration missions, psychology is the number ONE concern. Despite our visions of glorious exploration, deep space will most likely long periods of inactivity punctuated with brief moments of sheer exhilaration. It would be a challenge for the crew not to go mad or even want to kill each other. As a story device, something that complex and futuristic hi tech, that is so commonly used would make for great stories of an inward, psychological nature. It would have been criminal not to use it. RAMA
I hadn't even heard of this album untill I was at the store monday. I stopped buying NIN albums at halo 10v2. I may have to go revisit the fragile though. Anyway, it was 10 bucks for 2 discs so I snapped it up. I knew it was an intrumental album, I threw it in c.d. player of the minivan and yeah, the record is fucking brilliant! I really liked the introverted nature of the album. when trying to expain the record to one of my musician friends the best term that came to mind was "A sonic painting". this record is a journey, it defies description. It seems random but isn't. this is not only the best NIN album Ive heard in years it's the best album I've heard in years.