p2pnet - rss feed: Nine Inch Nails: P2P file share triumph
p2pnet news | Music:- Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have made a total mockery of Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG claims that P2P and file sharers are “devastating” (their word) the music industry.
Both bands put their trust in their fans, offering their music online for free, and both bands have been rewarded for treating the people who put them where they are as responsible music lovers, not criminals and thieves, as the Big 4 call their customers as they try to sue them into becoming mindless consumers of corporate ‘product’.
Nine tracks from NIN’s Ghosts I-IV went online for free on Sunday and already the band is cashing in, big time.
Included in the offering was a $300 limited (2,500) edition “ultra deluxe” package, numbered and signed by Trent Reznor.
And it’s now completely sold out.
Let’s see, that’s $750,000 —- and that was only for the limited edition set!
Imagination and innovation are what it’s all about, two concepts as alien and foreign to Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG as the ideas of competition and fair play, and being nice to the people who keep you in business.
Then come NIN’s other offerings, namely:
$5 Download
Ghosts I-IV
All 36 tracks in a variety of digital formats including a 40 page PDF. more info
$10 2XCD set
Ghosts I-IV on two audio CDs in a six panel digipak package with a 16 page booklet.
Pre-order, to be shipped April 8, 2008. Immediate full download in a variety of digital formats.
$70 Deluxe Edition Package
Ghosts I-IV in a hardcover fabric slipcase containing: 2 audio CDs, 1 data DVD with all 36 tracks in multi-track format, and a Blu-ray disc with Ghosts IV in high-definition 96/24 stereo and accompanying slideshow.Pre-order, to be shipped May 1, 2008. Immediate download in a variety of digital formats.
“Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor understands where the industry is going,” says Alyce Lomax in Motley Fool, going on >>>
In a rather amusing turn of events, Reznor told fans about other options, such as Amazon and - get this - BitTorrent and the “official upload” at Pirate Bay for the free offering of Ghosts I. Giveaways like this are probably giving the traditional recording industry bigwigs, like Warner Music Group, Universal, and Sony’sand Bertelsmann’s Sony BMG, metaphorical heart failure. Pointing fans to the industry’s sworn enemy, Pirate Bay? Well, hoist the Jolly Roger, yarr.
Prince had tried an interesting distribution experiment, too, when he struck a deal to tuck copies of his CD into the Sunday paper. And of course, Canadian label Nettwerk has long denounced the majors’ litigious policies and tried several strategies, including starting a label with video game giant Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS).
So who’s “Mr. Self Destruct” now?
When I’ve written about the music industry’s broken business model, I’ve been wrongly accused of thinking artists shouldn’t be paid. Like many others I believe the traditional media model is broken and needs a complete, visionary overhaul, something established companies have been reluctant to do.
Critics say only superstar bands with massive followings have enough resources to go independent. Others say that many people aren’t willing to pay up, as had been hoped for.
But with huge industry disruptions like this one, few people can see the ending from here. Perhaps that’s why it’s scary for the companies and business models that are left behind, and why they’d rather keep the status quo.
Innovators like Nine Inch Nails are paving the way for new media business models that may bypass the middleman while making sure artists and fans are happy.
I have faith that most fans will want to pay for quality content they really love, especially if it supports their favorite artists. I also believe this is just the beginning of the evolution of the media industry, and it will take time to sort itself out.
For investors, the dichotomy of fear and innovation we’re seeing is an illustration of Joseph Schumpeter’s economic concept of creative destruction. Investors should avoid being on the “fear” side of that equation, and watch for opportunities to be on the “innovation” side because that’s the future.
Definitely stay tuned.
[NOTE - p2pnet is running a special reader’s survey. It only takes a minute - literally. Please click here. Cheers! And thanks … Jon]
Also See:
their word - Marie Lindor, RIAA copyright crook, September 14, 2007
cashing in, big time - Nine Inch Nails Ghosts: free online, March 3, 2008
Motley Fool - Music Industry Gets Nailed Again, March 4, 2008
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March 7th, 2008 at 6:12 am
$750,000 - costs,tax,etc… = more like $500,000.
also no mention of the fact that the downloads are lossless e.g full CD quality opposed to just a “variety of digital formats”
music not my usual type but paid my $5 to support anyway hope others do the same.
March 7th, 2008 at 7:58 am
I think it’s great that I can buy the music in original CD-quality .flac files for so cheap and without supporting the music mafia. Much better than paying 99 cents a track so you can get low-quality DRMed shit and most of that money goes to the RIAA where they use it to sue 12 year olds.
March 18th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Hi guys !, I found a perfect domain name for the
new Ghosts project, we the fans must win it:
Ghosts-World.com Search it on auction at Ebay.