(NIN) Reznor makes $750,000 even when the music is free!
 

Trent Reznor released a new Nine Inch Nails record over the weekend and has already sold out his 2,500 deluxe editions at $300 a pop. This is what "competing with free" looks like.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...c-is-free.html

I havent heard the new album yet... any good?

Well its all instrumental there are no lyrics singing as far as the 36 Tracks i have listened to .. But interesting.. i like his old stuff better tho.

How is a $300 album FREE?

And no this is not the new way of doing the music biz. NIN can do it because they are established. Bands looking for a big break still need lables. Not to mention most aren't business savy enough to promote themselves this way. Not to metnion small time bands don't have the money for rent high quality studios or to have their own high quality studio. Nor do they have the pull to schedule a huge concert tour. Which is needed because in this new age the music itself will most likely be stolen or be sold dirt cheap.

So he has made more than 750k since there are still people paying the $5 I would guess. A big nice fuck you to the record labels thats for sure.

They uploaded a set on a few torrent networks, to help kick this off. Then turned around and made $750k from the deluxe set.

NIN didn't sell out to the "fan base", they reached out to people on a pirate network (the masses) then they sold them something better. To people like me, that aren't a direct NIN fan, but did listen to the music as a teenager.

The anatomy of free, it works in porn, exactly like this too.

That was gross. And i saw that he had other selling prices but wouldn't it take about a million net to consider a NiN album a success? It shows how much that industry has changed that this is good news and not bad.

No episode of Cribs for him.

That was gross. And i saw that he had other selling prices but wouldn't it take about a million net to consider a NiN album a success? It shows how much that industry has changed that this is good news and not bad.

No episode of Cribs for him.

This works because Reznor already had a record company and gaming fan base. PERIOD.

Any pre established star has a chance to do the same.

Yep. Your little local band is NOT going to be able to produce a studio quality album on their own or be able to schedule a 50 city tour performing in huge arenas nor promote themselves as well as a label can. All that takes MILLIONS of $$$ in up front money to do. Then people say "Fuck the lables" when they dare ask for a return on their investment.

So, there are 2,500 die-hard fans that will pay anything to feel special and the rest of the world doesn't care. Nice example.

Correct, and the article supports what you say when it talks about Rezner's other experiment for his friend which failed because he's an unknown compared to NIN.

Then again no record company is going to waste their time expecting a return on a 32 track instrumental project. Reznor had to dump it on line.

Some no-name bands make it online and make it big..

It's all about networking, nin did that for the last.. 20 years?... that's just more marketing.

What concerts have I missed?

A good case study that proves you wrong is Mika. Popular in Europe, but his label didn't "bring him to the US" because one of his songs was about a gay man. He gets absolutely no radio play in the US and isn't on MTV at all either.

So one would think he would have a problem touring the US, right? Quite the opposite in fact. His US tour last month was sold out, and these were not tiny hole in the wall venues. They might not have been arena shows, but a guy that gets ZERO promotion in the US shouldn't have sold out the venues he played at. Yet he did.

The only explanation is that US fans found him though avenues that didn't involve his label.

Not really, our city's small live music bars are sold out every weekend no matter who/what plays.

2 500 editions of how many say 50 millions fans?

How much did it cost to get 50 millions fans to be able to sell 2 500 deluxe editions to the super collectors?

At the moment when 60 000 people will pay 50 bucks a night to attend live porn star shots tours and you will be able to promote pornstars in MTV for their next tour and merchandise - I will not have any issue with giving away the video for free.

Totally different products..

I'm not talking about the local pizza joint where people come to drink and see any live band that wanted to play.

WOW you found ONE example. Ever heard of the exception that proves the rule. Just because one guy survives a fall from a 40 story building doesn't mean that 99.9999% of everyone that does it will too.

I'm not either. I'm talking about local night clubs.

Any venue that requires advertizing to sell out isn't taking the chance on internet bands.

huge difference between a bar that holds 200 people and a 18,000 seat arena. No band is getting rich playing to 200 people who paid a $10 cover charge at the local honkey tonk.

There are always exceptions to the rule, but Mika is far from having zero promotion in the US. First off he gets talked about all the time on Perez Hilton's website. While that may not be a big deal to some, the guy gets millions of readers every day. Plus he promoted himself via is myspace page and he is all over youtube. With modern technology and the internet if you become big in once place your fans can spread the word about you. It is like the old days when you found a band you liked and you would copy the tape for a friend only on a huge global scale. If Mika didn't have a lot of money behind him in Europe he most likely wouldn't have been nearly as popular as he is and that would making being a success here much harder.

If you take an average band, even if they have access to a top notch studio and can record a great sounding record, they will have a very hard time getting very big without a lot of help from big labels or from some kind of financial backer.