Nine Inch Nails' online exclusive album "Ghosts" earns Trent Reznor $1.6 Million

(click here to visit the official site and buy the album)

Nine Inch Nails' new instrumental album "Ghosts I-IV" has been out for 1 week now, and has already amassed Trent Reznor $1.6 million dollars. The album has been available exclusively through his own website, at several different price points including a free download, and an uber limited $300 box set.

Coupled with the success of Radiohead's release of their most recent album, "In Rainbows," as an online exclusive, a new trend could be brewing as top shelf acts pry away from record deals with major labels. While a higher revenue share for the musician is a definite plus, this new model might not work for every major band out there. For one thing, both Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails definitely seem to have the type of audience that's tech/web savvy- not all acts have such audiences. Furthermore, while this may work for bands with a large pre-existing fan base, how it would work out for a low-profile artist is yet to be seen.

Discussions on the future of music distribution aside, go visit NIN's cleanly designed website for "Ghosts"- Even if you don't want to pay the $5 for the full high quality album, you can still download 9 of the 36 tracks for free and download a 40 page liner notes booklet.

Checkout this streaming player for previews of a few of the tracks:



For more Trent Reznor music goodness, checkout his guest vocals on the Cassette's Won't Listen Remix of El-P's "Flyentology" on FoundTrack's April '07 MixTape.