RIAA hates NIN

Apparently I am behind on this story, but I thought this was pretty clever. Nine Inch Nails are doing the expected opposite and using the internet fully to promote their new album called "YEAR ZERO". NIN have been distributing tracks on USB flash drives at concerts. The first two were found in bathroom stalls and then another taped to the barricade at a show. They've all been 320 kbps MP3, DRM-free and widely distributed. The following is from BILLBOARD: "Neither Reznor, his management nor representatives at his Interscope label would speak to Billboard about the campaign, which has encompassed everything from cryptic phrases on T-shirts to Orwellian Web sites to MP3s found on USB drives in bathrooms at NIN concerts. But a source with knowledge of the project says Reznor may very well perceive it all not as a marketing campaign, but as "a new entertainment form."

Indeed, the source says the campaign forms the body of the "Year Zero" experience: "It is the CD booklet come to life. It precedes the concept album and the tour. And it will continue for the next 18 months, with peaks and valleys."

The source continues, "No one has assembled the full story yet. The new media is creating the story as it goes."

"Year Zero" came to life in early February when Web-savvy fans discovered that highlighted letters inside words on a NIN tour T-shirt spelled out "I am trying to believe." Savvy fans added a ".com" to the five words and, voila, located a thought-provoking, eerie Web site. Other associated sites created by 42 Entertainment were soon discovered, including http://www.bethehammer.net, http://www.anotherversionofthetruth.com and http://www.churchofplano.com, where a dark future reigns supreme." -Read more from this BILLBOARD Article LISTEN to YEAR ZERO HERE