You have probably read by now of Nine Inch Nail's album release, Ghosts I-IV. NIN's Trent Reznor (it's really just him at this point, actually) has become the online community's spokesperson for both record industry criticism and alternative distribution models.

I love what NIN has done here. In contrast with Radiohead's use of distinct release windows (first a digital release sold at the band's website, later the CD and distribution to download stores) NIN released everything at once and with enough formats and options for every level of interest. The 36-track album was pared down to nine tracks (called Ghosts I) for the free release while the full album download cost only $5. A CD costs $10 and more elaborate physical editions are available for considerably more money. (I should point out that CDs will ship in about five weeks. While the digital and CD releases are staggered, they are fairly close together. NIN will manufacture and ship the CDs. No word yet on whether or not a label or distributor will be involved for brick-and-mortar distribution.)

Then there's the P2P angle. Reznor has encouraged sharing of the music and has uploaded the free Ghosts I version to various torrent sites. People could just wait around a bit longer and find the entire 36-track version eventually since it'll be widely shared -- permission or no permission (see below). Some may question Reznor's encouragement of file-sharing, but it's now his choice (and not that of Interscope Records).

NIN used TuneCore to make the album available at Amazon.com last night. The cost at Amazon.com is $5 for all 36 tracks and tracks are currently sold only in an album bundle, not individually.

Another atypical (for a major artist) aspect to project is that it was released with a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license that allows for non-commercial sharing and remixing.

Like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails ran into some technical problems. "The response to this album has been overwhelming," the band's website said this morning, "causing out website to slow to a crawl. We THOUGHT we were ready, but... " The problems have persisted well past morning. This afternoon I have tried unsuccessfully for hours to download the zip file containing the nine free tracks. Maybe tomorrow will be a better. This sort of poor customer service isn't surprising when artists take on a function that was previously handled by far more capable specialists. It's a snag that will be worked out as more artists self-release.