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.

New Radiohead LP "In Rainbows" now Online

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

Hola Amigos, the new Radiohead album "In Rainbows," is out and available for purchase as a digital exclusive. If you haven't heard yet, Radiohead's no longer on a label, and are therefore letting the consumer pay as much or as little as they want to download it. Later in December the album will be released as a collector's edtion box set with a bonus disc and vinyl as well.

Can't wait to hear how many downloads and sales Radiohead gets off this thing. Gotta give them props for the progressive strategy to distributing music. Word on the interwebs is that Jamiroquai, Nine Inch Nails (recently free of a label as well), and Oasis are following suit.

Over the past year, Radiohead has been previewing some of the tracks off of "In Rainbows" (aka LP7). Here is a performance of "Videotape," the last track on the album, live from Bonnaroo 2006:

Lost in the Village Green

In high school as a big FU to the general establishment and the majority of fellow students which I had loathed and envied through my four years of internment, I played a song called 'Lola' at a senior brunch. For those of you unfamiliar with old rocker music 'Lola' is about a regular guy out one night who meets this hot girl. They are dancing, they start getting freaky and what does the guy eventually find out...Lola has got some extra equipment. (The Pharcyde may have run into this same imposter in 'Oh Shit') So I have to tell you there really is no emotion to describe what it was like to be singing about a transvestite while people are eating brunch.

The song 'Lola' is a great window, but not nearly an abstract, of who The Kinks were. Or more importantly who Ray Davies, the off-key singer and writer of The Kinks' sound, was. Like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and other British rockers, The Kinks somehow managed to stay in decent popularity and only recently broke up in the late 90's. The Kinks were often political, usually humorous and writing about what they wanted and saw at the time. In a recent blog article I caught a foolish webhead making a list of the top ten worst album titles of all time. 'The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society" was listed as one of them. How he missed 'All My Friends Are Dead" by Freddie Gage, I'll never know.


But forget titles for a second you'll uncover something lovely about 'Village Green'. It was a concept album for The Kinks but one that had nothing to do with heavy handed political agendas or stabs at any person, place or thing. The album was an ode to simpler times of English Hamlet life. Seems almost silly but its an album of songs that have quickly become favorites for any listeners of the era. Ridiculous title or not I think I'll stick to living in the 'Village Green' versus drinking 'Crunk Juice' in the city.

Checkout The Kinks' "This time Tomorrow" on the September '07 FoundTrack MixTape