Trent Reznor and whomever else may be involved with Nine Inch Nails on this go around have decided to upload the first in their four part series Ghosts I-IV directly to the bittorrent network. Let me take a moment to say to the NIN folks, thanks! This is awesome. This is where music is headed - thank you for being pioneers and taking a risk for artists and fans everywhere so that we may all enjoy not only your music, but all music as it should be. Easily available and DRM free. In fact, here’s the torrent file for you - go ahead and grab Ghosts I!
If you’d like to support NIN, you can get the entire collection, Ghosts I-IV (over two hours of music, 36 tracks) on their site for $5. FIVE BUCKS! You get:
- Email with a one time download link to Ghosts I-IV in your choice of the following formats:
- High-quality MP3 files (320 kbps LAME encoded, fullyt tagged -plays on any MP3 player).
- FLAC Lossless (CD Quality - will not play in iTunes without conversion)
- Apple Lossless (CD Quality - will play on iTunes(.
- All files are 100% DRM-free
You’ll also get a free 40 page PDF book and a digital ‘extras’ pack with wallpapers, icons, and other graphics. And to make a great situation even better, NIN has applied the Creative Commons license to this work. Wow.
NIN goes on to explain some of their reasoning:
Hello from Nine Inch Nails.
We’re very proud to present a new collection of instrumental music, Ghosts I-IV. Almost two hours of music recorded over an intense ten week period last fall, Ghosts I-IV sprawls Nine Inch Nails across a variety of new terrain.
Now that we’re no longer constrained by a record label, we’ve decided to personally upload Ghosts I, the first of the four volumes, to various torrent sites, because we believe BitTorrent is a revolutionary digital distribution method, and we believe in finding ways to utilize new technologies instead of fighting them.
We encourage you to share the music of Ghosts I with your friends, post it on your website, play it on your podcast, use it for video projects, etc. It’s licensed for all non-commercial use under Creative Commons.
We’ve also made a 40 page PDF book to accompany the album. If you’d like to download it for free, visit http://ghosts.nin.com/main/pdf
Ghosts I is the first part of the 36 track collection Ghosts I-IV. Undoubtedly you’ll be able to find the complete collection on the same torrent network you found this file, but if you’re interested in the release, we encourage you to check it out at ghosts.nin.com, where the complete Ghosts I-IV is available directly from us in a variety of DRM-free digital formats, including FLAC lossless, for only $5. You can also order it on CD, or as a deluxe package with multitrack audio files, high definition audio on Blu-ray disc, and a large hard-bound book.
We genuinely appreciate your support, and hope you enjoy the new music. Thanks for listening.
Please do download the torrent. And if you enjoy your music served up to you like this, go shell out the $5 to get the whole thing the right way - by supporting the artists who are doing this for you. There are also a variety of other packages that range from $10 for 2 CDs through $300 for a limited edition set. Whatever package you purchase includes immediate download of all the songs and digital stuff.
Kudos NIN. Thanks!
[tags]NIN, nine inch nails, torrent file, ghosts, free music, the right way, technology, geek, coolness[ /tags]
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:58 pm
WHOEVER else may be involved, not WHOMEVER (and it even says who’s involved on ghosts.nin.com)!
March 4th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Take a look at this other professional Creative Commons initiative http://thenyouwin.yooook.org/
March 4th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
i’m getting the $5 version. if anything, to put in my $0.02 on how i think music should be produced and distributed.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
So is that $5.02?
I’ve gotten the $5 version as well. I feel I should put my money where my mouth is with these things.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Yeah the $5 version is all you need. No need to order a CD these days.