For those who don't know, Nine Inch Nails recently released an instrumental set, "Ghosts I-IV." Trent Reznor (the band's front man and really only member) put it out three ways:
-For free you got the first part (Ghosts I)
-For five bucks you got decent quality, DRM-free downloads of the full set (Ghosts I-IV)
-For seventy bucks you got all the albums on disc, in a special sexy case, and some other bonuses
-For 300 bucks you got everything from the 70 dollar package, along with vinyl recordings of the album and some other stuff
Reznor didn't use a record label, a pro recording company, or a pro distribution / promotion method. In fact, the album came out rather suddenly. Goes to show that this type of business model works... and far better than the CD one. Most artists through major labels only make a few bucks per album sold, because a lot of it is given to the label for promotion and distribution. Trent made $1.6 million, and I doubt he spent too much on production and all that.
-For free you got the first part (Ghosts I)
-For five bucks you got decent quality, DRM-free downloads of the full set (Ghosts I-IV)
-For seventy bucks you got all the albums on disc, in a special sexy case, and some other bonuses
-For 300 bucks you got everything from the 70 dollar package, along with vinyl recordings of the album and some other stuff
Reznor didn't use a record label, a pro recording company, or a pro distribution / promotion method. In fact, the album came out rather suddenly. Goes to show that this type of business model works... and far better than the CD one. Most artists through major labels only make a few bucks per album sold, because a lot of it is given to the label for promotion and distribution. Trent made $1.6 million, and I doubt he spent too much on production and all that.