nin

Buzz Out Loud 886: That's our title!

We're coming to you from CES 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada and it's all about Netbooks today. I'm sure we'll get more buzz about 3D TVs and more later this week. Also, Ellie doesn't like it when we call out the title of the show, but that makes it easier for Jason to find them for his special edition! (And please excuse a bit of distortion in today's episode. Sorry! -Jason) Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 886

Yawn— MacWorld (woohoo iTunes DRM free!!) http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10133230-37.html http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090106-apple-mwsf-announcements-new-macbook-pro.html… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 818: The Zipless Squirt

It's an "in the wild" sort of show today: love on the bus, Zune-style; a Tesla in the wild; an anecdotal Netbook in the wild; and wild assumptions and paranoia about Internet tracking ensue as Rafe Needleman returns to BOL. Also, the birdman flies over the Channel. Awesome. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 818

Jack Thompson Disbarred http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/25/1822207 http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10051241-52.html

AT& T, Verizon to refrain from tracking users online http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/25/AR2008092504135.html… Read more

Reznor to NIN fans: Help us know what you'll buy

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (NIN) has been blazing trails in the music industry, but apparently he wants to take it one step further. Where, however, is not yet clear.

In fact, that may be the point to a step taken recently by the band. In an e-mail sent out to fans, Reznor asked his fans to fill out a survey to help NIN better serve the fans:

As we've moved from the familiar world of record labels and BS into the unknown world of doing everything yourself, we've realized it would benefit us and our ability … Read more

Nine Inch Nails depresses with a big Blue Screen of Death

Trent Reznor, brainchild behind Nine Inch Nails, sure knows how to bring an audience down. In a recent concert Reznor, apparently trying to capture the pain of modern life, let the Blue Screen of Death flash across the screen:

Somehow, that image leaves me much more depressed than NIN's classic song, "Terrible Lie":

seems like salvation come only in our dreams. i feel my hatred grow all the more extreme.... can this world really be as sad as it seems?

Apparently, the answer from Microsoft is "Yes." :-)

Peter Gabriel a fan of Radiohead-esque Internet efforts

Peter Gabriel, the Grammy award-winning performer, this week applauded attempts by some artists to experiment with new ways to sell music.

Since October, the bands Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have generated plenty of notoriety after distributing their own albums--without the backing of any music label--through heavy use of the Internet.

"I think it's fantastic that these new models are appearing," said Gabriel, one of the founders of the band Genesis, told me on Monday. "You don't need very many people to make a project economically viable if you're distributing yourself."

When it … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 674: Pomme not Pom

EPISODE 674

Yahoo, Time Warner reportedly talk deal to thwart Microsoft http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9886157-7.html http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9886254-7.html

Gates to Google: 'Your business applications stink' http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9884752-16.html

Adobe bites its tongue after iPhone Flash jab http://www.news.com/8301-10787_3-9886265-60.html

Warning: Your iPod may get you mugged http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9885873-7.html http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/ 1282422/researchers_ipods_attract_violent_crime

Is Microsoft’s ‘Singularity’ the OS of the future? http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9886184-7.html

NIN’s music experiment sells big numbers http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/05/076221… Read more

Update: NIN grosses $750,000 overnight

An update to yesterday's post: the $300 deluxe box set is sold out, according to the Nine Inch Nails Web site. The band made only 2,500 copies of the deluxe set, which means that they've already grossed $750,000. In preorders. In less than a day. That should be more than enough to cover the cost of manufacturing this set, and probably the initial runs of the lower-priced physical sets as well, plus recording costs (a high-budget major-label release might cost $100,000 to record). And since NIN is no longer on a label, every dollar of … Read more

NIN nails it

Nine Inch Nails' surprise release of Ghosts I-IV today in five differently priced formats is the perfect example of how recorded music can, should, and inevitably will be sold in a world where free has become the norm.

I suggested several business models for recorded music in my post the other day, which was a response to Chris Anderson's Wired article about "free" as the future of business. Ghosts employs at least two of them.

First and foremost, it's a great example of the "freemium" model, in which the hardcore NIN fans subsidize the … Read more