Trent Reznor Continues Business Model Experiments: Releases Latest Album Online

from the with-choices... dept

Trent Reznor has certainly been doing a lot of experimenting lately with business models. His last album, which was still on a major label, involved some unique promotional attempts, which actually upset his record label. He also recognized that since the CD itself was going to compete with online downloads that he needed to make the physical CD worth purchasing by making it cool (in this case, color changing after you played it). Late last year, he also experimented with offering free downloads for an album he produced with Saul Williams. While he admitted he was a bit "disheartened" that not that many people paid for the album, he also noted how much attention the album got and Saul Williams admitted that it was working out great overall.

Now that Reznor is totally off-label, he's pulled a bit of a Radiohead, surprising just about everyone by simply announcing his new Nine Inch Nails album on his website and offering a variety of options in how to get it. Given his disappointment with the Saul Williams experiment, perhaps it's not a surprise that he hasn't totally embraced the free concept. The album itself is 36 songs, nearly two and a half hours of music -- but he's only offering the first nine songs for free. However, he is offering a variety of choices for people who do want to pay -- starting with $5 for a complete download (in a choice of high-quality, DRM-free formats) of all songs plus a 40-page PDF of additional content and a "digital extras pack" with graphics that can be used as wallpaper, icons and anything else.

There are other options as well, reminiscent of other musicians who try to offer reasons why you should spend more. For Reznor, those options include a $10 2-disc CD with 16-page booklet (and all the downloads), a $75 Deluxe Edition which includes the CD, a data DVD with all of the content and a Blu-ray high definition DVD with an accompanying slideshow, and finally, a $300 "Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition Package" that includes everything in the Deluxe Edition plus a vinyl version of the album, limited edition Giclee prints packaged in a "luxurious package" which will be numbered and signed by Trent (only 2,500 of those are available).

While those options could be improved upon (and only offering up the first nine tracks for free certainly won't stop the rest from being available online), it's yet another example of a musician recognizing that a plan that lets fans pick which option is worth it -- and making sure to provide real value for the different options -- is the wave of the future for business models. I'm also a bit surprised that he didn't follow the lead of several other musicians in tying the packages to other things, such as live events. Still, it's another good example of a musician experimenting with important new business models. Update: Two additional points that are worth mentioning. The album has been released under a Creative Commons license and Trent has seeded many bittorrent sites himself with the first nine songs.

Filed Under: business models, free, music, nine inch nails, trent reznor

Universal Music Working Hard To Alienate Its Biggest Stars

from the no-mashups-allowed dept

The recording industry loves to trot out musicians in its fight for ever-more-draconian copyright laws. We're repeatedly told that fans who create mash-ups with their favorite songs and post them back to YouTube are not only infringing copyright, but are hurting the very artists who created that music in the first place. The funny thing is, a lot of musicians don't seem to have gotten the memo. A couple of years ago, OK Go front man Damian Kulash took to the pages of the New York Times to tell of his battle to keep DRM off of his band's latest CD, which he knew would turn off a lot of fans. Now Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor, who just a few weeks ago parted ways with Universal, has a statement on the group's website about his own struggles with his former label. Reznor has actually encouraged fans to share and re-mix his music, and has even released a new CD featuring user-created mash-ups of Nine Inch Nails music.

He was planning to create a YouTube-style website to host and promote the best mash-ups, but he found out at the last moment that Universal wasn't willing to participate in the site, for fear it would undermine their legal arguments against YouTube and its competitors. It's a little bit unclear about what the exact controversy is about. To its credit, Universal apparently hasn't tried to stop Reznor from setting up his own mash-up site. Since Reznor has been released from his Universal contract, it's not surprising that Universal would be reluctant to help him promote his music -- even though it still owns the rights to his earlier songs. So in some sense, it seems a little unfair to blame Universal for not wanting to be involved in setting up a website to promote the music of one of its former acts. But this kind of friction also makes it pretty clear that the labels' claims to represent the interests of artists are rather hollow. Reznor wants to experiment with new ways of promoting his music, while Universal seems to be myopically focused on the next quarter's CD revenues. Instead of looking for ways to turn YouTube into a new promotional vehicle or revenue stream, they've been busy threatening to sue YouTube and its competitors. That's probably not a good strategy for Universal; it certainly isn't a good strategy for Reznor or musicians who are still on Universal's labels. Reznor, it seems, was smart to get out when he did, and I'm sure he's encouraging his musician friends to follow his lead.

Filed Under: copyright, mashups, nine inch nails, record labels, trent reznor
Companies: universal music