Share, RSS
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

This isn't Bear related but it's fun. I guess you have to like Nine Inch Nails for this... however... Trent Reznor has made his latest album called The Slip free for everyone to download. From their site "thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me".

Trent Reznor has been showing a trend lately of placing music online for free. He 1st started doing this with the production of Saul William's 'Niggy Tardust' (article here) and then with his instrumental album called 'Ghosts I-IV' (article here). Free music, you can't go wrong.

Share, RSS
Tuesday, March 4, 2008

This is not Bear related but it's what I would consider interesting internet news. Trent Reznor of NIN has been trying to change how music is spread - 1st with his release of Saul William's CD Niggy Stardust (which Trent produced - article here) and now with his very own compilation entitled Ghost I-IV. He has made Ghost I available to download - either pay him $5 or grab it for free (from his site or via torrent).

Now it might be easy for him to give away his music because he's a mega superstar musician, and starving artists cannot afford to make music and just hand it out for free, so I don't know what to say about that ~ however whether or not you're a fan of making music free, a lot of people already know about torrents and how to share music (Wiki #1 - Wiki #2), so what Trent is doing is simply following a trend, but it's a good trend. Also, a buddy of mine said that musicians make more of their moneys from concerts and not CD sales, so what Trent is doing is a truly ingenious way to market himself.

As for the Ghost I-IV - it is going to be 36 songs and he's made the 1st 9 available. I'm listening to it now and it's nothing like NIN. This new music does not compare to Trent's previous stuff however most of it is easy to listen to and it will sure to appeal to those who were never a NIN fan to begin with... oh and it's only $5... or it's free... you decide.

Share, RSS
Thursday, November 1, 2007

This article is not Bear related in any way, but it's interesting enough for me to post it.

Downloading music for free  has always been a controversial topic; some believe that sharing music is fine, but there are others, such as Metallica who view it as stealing (back in 2000, Metallica made a stink about it when they found out that their demos were being shared on Napster).

Whatever your opinion is when it comes to downloading free music, seems like some musicians are taking a new stand: some actually want you to download their music for free. They are making their music available from their websites while giving you the option: download it for free or download it and donate.

Radiohead, on October 10th, made their 7th album In Rainbows available as a digital download from their website, and if you paid some money (whatever you wanted), you will receive the music now and the discbox on December 3rd. The other option - no discbox, just free music.

Today - November 1st - a musician I like a lot - Saul Williams - did the same thing; his latest album Niggy Tardust - is available here on his site and you can either pay $5 or just grab it for free. The album was produced by another artist I like - Trent Reznor from NIN. There's an interesting article about all this on CNET in which Trent mentions that the internet is a perfect place for artists to promote themselves. Altho giving music away for free is one thing, the flip side is that this should lead to sales for such things as concert tickets and merchandise.