The Hand That Feeds

It looks like brilliant minds think alike. In a move very reminiscent of Radiohead's In Rainbows "giveaway", Trent Reznor has opted to offer a completely free download of part I of the new Nine Inch Nails record. The project, entitled Ghosts, is a four volume set consisting of new instrumental material that Reznor has been working on since last year's Year Zero releases. According to Stereogum, eager fans can immediately get their hands on Volume I HERE. Or, if you are one of the diehards, you can pick your poison: $5 for a download of all four volumes (36 tracks), $10 for the complete download WITH CD's containing the songs, and $75 for the discs, special fabric slipcase and DVD. If you have nothing better to do with your money, $300 will get you ALL of the said material WITH limited-edition vinyl signed by the man himself. Choices, choices.

The label-less Reznor, who has not exactly been silent about his frustrations with the current state of the music industry, is self-releasing this album without the support of a big label funding. It is going to be very interesting to see how this project fares, particularly because this is NIN's first foray into the instrumental world. It didn't exactly work for the Beastie Boys, but hey, free is free and Trent's the man.