I've been gone for quite some time and I did some searching here and could not find any real discussions of this, so here it goes. Apologies if this has already been discussed here.

Trent Reznor released a 36 track collection of instrumentals called "Ghosts," divided into four 'volumes' with nine tracks apiece. You can get the first nine digitally for free, spend $5 to get all 36 digitally (several options - 320 kbps mp3, FLAC, etc), spend $10 to get the digital versions AND preorder the physical CD...

Then there are the nutso versions that cost a lot but have a lot of extras. In my mind, TR has outdone what Radiohead did with a better distribution model (though there was a ton more traffic at the onset then he thought there'd be). The ability to sample a quality chunk of the product for free as an enticement is also a nice move. He moved almost 800,000 in downloads and preorders in the first week, and that doesn't even COUNT the same free 9 track set that he released to torrents. The gross take after one week was $1.6 million. Wow. He obviously learned following his disappointment with response to the 'Free DL' vs. 'Pay $5' option from working with Saul Williams on Niggy Tardust

That said, the music is pretty awesome too. Definitely minimalist, definitely different, but still sounds and feels like NIN. Gotta recommend at LEAST getting the first nine for free.

Then he takes it a step further with this whole film festival thing...

Discuss?

I really like the entire Ghosts albums and I think he's finally headed in a good direction. I'm glad there is finally an album I can listen to the entire way through from him. I feel like he dropped the ball with Year Zero, its not his best work.

And welcome back!
<-Adrian

YZ is the weakest of his catalogue in my mind, but there were still some awesome elements to it - some of the songs, like My Violent Heart, Meet Your Master, Capital G, Survivalism...these were very good. The interactivity of the ARG was pretty cool. I enjoyed the remix album, especially the part where he released all of the multitracks to us.

It wasn't to the caliber of previous releases, though.

Ghosts is awesome. A lot of it takes me back to The Fragile and TDS style. I'd agree about listening to the whole thing except that I'm not usually doing anything that allows me to have that attention span. Same problem with The Fragile - loved it all the way through, but no time for two disks right in a row under normal circumstances. I could listen to TDS all the way through except for Heresy.

Now, Dri, how the hell have you been? PM me sometime.

Capital G is by far the strongest song on them. When they started trickling out before the album was out (myspace and that whatnot) I hated all of the songs I have heard but the more I listened to them the more they grew on me.

I've been anxious to hear something new from Trent, I will give it a listen. I'm glad he decided to cut out the middle man like so many others are doing...It certainly opens things up for him creatively and I guess it shows in the music.

Agreed. I'm actually surprised that there wasn't anything about this sooner on DF, its been a couple of weeks. This is definitely minimalist...he's peddling it as "a soundtrack for daydreams."