Audio Video News

Much to the industry's chagrin, the prevailing price for much downloaded music is free. Perhaps not coincidentally, that's the pricetag of The Slip, the new Nine Inch Nails album download.

Go to the link listed above, enter your email address, and you'll be sent information enabling the download. It can take any or all of several forms--including MP3, lossless FLAC, or uncompressed WAV--and includes a PDF with artwork. NIN will also offer conventional CD and LP releases in July.

The free download is "a thank you to our fans for your continued support," says the site. Strategically, it evokes recent free downloads of Radiohead and R.E.M. albums more than it does that of the previous NIN album Ghosts I-IV, a multifaceted affair with limited free material and more stuff for those who pay more.

The unintended consequence of the Radiohead experiment was that the band's site got overwhelmed and the album ended up getting freely BitTorrented. However, I had no problem downloading the NIN album this morning. Presumably NIN's Trent Reznor is going into his own latest experiment with eyes wide open and, having learned what there is to learn, will adjust future plans accordingly.

Oh, and by the way, the latest numbers for the record industry continue to suggest that rumors of its imminent death (or at least continued shrinkage) are not at all exaggerated.