Alan, over at the Newswire got to posting this before me, so I’m compelled to give him his due…

Basically, Nine Inch Nails purposely released to BitTorrent the first in a four part series of instrumental albums. You can download the whole four part series for a paltry 5 bucks right here, though the $300 Ultra Deluxe version (which I believe came with a naked picture of Trent Reznor, but I could be mistaken) is already sold out…

I’m not a huge fan of Radiohead, so I didn’t download their latest effort…but I AM a fan of NiN, so you can bet your sweet-ass I’m grabbing this tonight!

I like that we are seeing more artists embracing digital media and distribution and realizing that money (it’s an important piece of the equation, after all) does not necessarily have to be made in the same ways that it has been for the last 100 years. Certainly, bands like Radiohead and NiN can get away with stuff like this because of the large and loyal fanbases each band has. A new or up and coming band would be hard pressed to find success doing the same thing, and so I think we will see record labels (if they’re smart, which isn’t something we should assume…) start to be more of a vehicle to launch careers as opposed to being a vehicle to sustain careers. Larger acts will, I guarantee you, begin to take more control over the production and distribution of their content and the leverage that a record company has will only be applicable to a group who does not already have a large and dedicated audience…at least, that’s my theory…

And this is just a really good song (and interesting video) that I wanted to share…