NIN Album Earns $1.6 Million On Web

The online release of the new Nine Inch Nails album, "Ghosts I-IV," resulted in just under 800,000 transactions in its first week, totaling $1.6 million in revenue, the industrial-rock band has revealed.

The tally includes free and paid downloads, as well as advance orders for physical configurations like various limited-edition vinyl releases, CDs, and a boxed set.

"Ghosts I-IV," the band's first release since becoming a free agent last October, went on sale March 2 at its Web site. Fans can receive the first nine songs from the 36-track project for free, or can pay $5 for the entire digital album.

NIN will not release traditional sales figures to SoundScan, whose data are used to compiled the Billboard 200 albums chart.

A $10 double-CD set will reach stores on April 8. A $70 deluxe edition and a $300 autographed version will ship May 1.

After Nine Inch Nails' contract with Interscope expired, the label released a remix album, "Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D." The band's last studio release, "Year Zero," debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 last April with 187,000 copies.

Thanks for the info to Yahoo! News.

Comments

[Red33]

Damn, that's nice

[Hexagram]

that is good to hear

[Comeback Kiddd]

lucky Trent

[Comeback Kiddd]

Bling Bling Trent Reznor

[The Spoon]

Thats awesome

[CanCan]

Glad to see Trent was right.

[x_themetalfan_x]

Record companies are a-sploding. All their base are belong to us.

Good for Reznor.

[Matt_Synyster]

Comeback Kiddd wrote:

Bling Bling Trent Reznor

Haha aye, that guy must be incredibly wealthy.

But in my opinion he deserves all of it, there are some people out there throwing together crap and calling it an album and just reaping in the profit. He's an incredibly talented guy.

[FrenchyFungus]

Good for them

[Powerhouse]

One of those transactions was from me.

Great album.

[Doragg]

Hell yes, I love Trent Reznor. He's still making good music, and he's doing something other bands aren't. He's a good man for the things he's been doing. IMO the best band ever!

[AEnima18]

I contributed to that too! Trent 1 Record Labels Nil

[the_extremist00]

+1 band finding out about the benefits of internet

no money for the greedy recording companies \o/

[lsw444]

This is great to see. Think of what record companies have been responsible for farming us. Think of what cuts they take and what they dictate to bands. Think of all the good/great bands they DO NOT sign. This is giving the people who deserve it the rewards. This is great to hear. NIN and Radiohead. I think the Black Crowes tried it too, but before internet music technology was as it is now. Great stuff - and I'm not a NIN fan, just a music fan.

And it was probably a good thing I never got signed really anyway.

[Chex]

$300 for an autographed version? Who's gonna pay that?

[Alucard II]

Chex wrote:

$300 for an autographed version? Who's gonna pay that?

i guarantee you the autographed one will sell out

[GiantRaven]

Chex wrote:

$300 for an autographed version? Who's gonna pay that?

Obsessives

[HerrMagnum]

Alucard II wrote:

Chex wrote:

$300 for an autographed version? Who's gonna pay that?i guarantee you the autographed one will sell out

It sold out within the first couple days. All 2500 copies. So it seems 2500 people wanted it, probably a lot more.

[samerika]

thats pretty nice!

i was wondering.....will there be a billboard list for digital records too xD=

[Fi-Fi]

NIN rules

[Cooper1983]

Powerhouse wrote:

One of those transactions was from me.

Great album.

2 from me! $5 and $75 versions. Trent deserves every penny he earns from this. The guy is a genius.

[Andreas1]

theres an idea..get bands to sign all 500000 copies of albums therefore negating filesharing! they wouldnt be able to play guitar again tho

[livinginpixels]

Pretty Hate Machine sold over 4 million records, multiplied by $12 (approximate cost of cd) and you get $48,000,000.

1.6 million is chump change for a musician as big as NIN. It probably didnt even cover the cost to make and market the album.

[Xerothunder]

livinginpixels wrote:

Pretty Hate Machine sold over 4 million records, multiplied by $12 (approximate cost of cd) and you get $48,000,000.

1.6 million is chump change for a musician as big as NIN. It probably didnt even cover the cost to make and market the album.

No one covers costs in one week. The album will continue to sell. It hasn't been released in stores yet. PHM didn't sell 4 million in 7 days.

[BlackSymphony6]

livinginpixels :
Pretty Hate Machine sold over 4 million records, multiplied by $12 (approximate cost of cd) and you get $48,000,000.

1.6 million is chump change for a musician as big as NIN. It probably didnt even cover the cost to make and market the album

Yeah but from that the label and the distributor get a cut, and minus studio time and other costs the actual profit made by trent is gonna be considerably less. Besides your taking into account sales of pretty hate machine in its entirety, the $1.6 mil revenue for Ghosts I-IV is just from the first week.

Nice to see someone making money from internet downloads, considering that we are always being told the internet is destroying the music industry.

[Sean-Man]

and CD's come this much closer to death

[Guitar_Jester]

Ghosts is a real masterpiece. I love it.

[xXx Hobbes xXx]

I hope he can lend me some cash to pay my rent next month.

[emr_steelmech]

NIN will not release traditional sales figures to SoundScan, whose data are used to compiled the Billboard 200 albums chart.

I think thats the coolest part, completely underground

[tands]

Matt_Synyster wrote:

aye, that guy must be incredibly wealthy.

But in my opinion he deserves all of it, there are some people out there throwing together crap and calling it an album and just reaping in the profit. He's an incredibly talented guy.

couldnt agree more with you!

[Year Zero]

Well deserved for a great band.

[fhqwgads]

Wow, I didn't even realize there was a new one out. That's gotta be a record for Trent, with his precedented 5+ years in between most albums.

[Macabre_Turtle]

Chex wrote:

$300 for an autographed version? Who's gonna pay that?

The 300 dollar version was way more than just an autographed copy.

[ozzy102691]

fhqwgads wrote:

Wow, I didn't even realize there was a new one out. That's gotta be a record for Trent, with his precedented 5+ years in between most albums.

who cares how long he takes, as long as he puts out a good album.

[radioplay]

Year Zero wrote:

Well deserved for a great band.

coming from a user whos name is Year Zero haha.
And i agree

[radioplay]

HerrMagnum wrote:

Alucard II wrote:

Chex wrote:

$300 for an autographed version? Who's gonna pay that?i guarantee you the autographed one will sell out


It sold out within the first couple days. All 2500 copies. So it seems 2500 people wanted it, probably a lot more.

It'd be crazy if exactly 2500 people wanted it though. Not 2499, not 2501. 2500 exactly

[Broken_Drum]

Trent & Co. deserve every penny of it. Glad I snapped up the $300 edition while it was still in stock.

[Rasta Dogg]

emr_steelmech wrote:

NIN will not release traditional sales figures to SoundScan, whose data are used to compiled the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Damn, you beat me to it. Haha, I actually guessed Trent would do that just to f**k with the ratings-*****s like the hot list in the back of Rolling Stone.
I think thats the coolest part, completely underground

[mikko 9119]

not a HUGE fan of NIN, but good for him. thats really cool. he (trent) and the rest of them totally deserve that

[diminishedtobme]

Good for them, wish more people would start taking this route.

[Seymore190]

That's great for them, this album is really great, pretty trippy.

[ATGreat]

not to bee the *******, but ghosts sucked bad.
I've lost all respect for this band, seriously, rad somewhere that "this is music to day dream to", wtf, it's more like an acid trip, with ****ed up noises. shit, congratulations on the shittload of effects on this, but that is all you have, a shittload of shit. seriously, I actually liked this band, when it was still a band. now, it is just, how to say, painfull sounds.

[punkrockjoe]

This is so cool and out of the blue but I did some maths,
$300x2500= $750000.
Even selling only 2500 copies trent made three quarters of a million dollars, **** me.

[Nebjy]

ATGreat wrote:

not to bee the *****, but ghosts sucked bad.
I've lost all respect for this band, seriously, rad somewhere that "this is music to day dream to", wtf, it's more like an acid trip, with ****ed up noises. shit, congratulations on the shittload of effects on this, but that is all you have, a shittload of shit. seriously, I actually liked this band, when it was still a band. now, it is just, how to say, painfull sounds.

You can't just make carbon copies of previous albums you know.

[SimpleMan008]

[quote=Frenchy Fungus]Good for them[/quote]

More good for "him" than "them".

[slayerbizkit]

I don't think this will be the death of CD's nor does it prove that the internet is the future of selling music. Only a huge rock icon like Trent Reznor could pull off something like this. I doubt your average garage band or musician could follow the same path with similar success.

[Toadstool5]

I respect this. This is where music is going, and if artists are smart they'll do that cuz they will make the most money that way probably.

[cloudy_skies]

This is great news. It's kind of amazing how long it would take for Reznor to record new material while he was doing drugs, and now that he's clean he's doing more than anybody else!

[Mihyaeru]

slayerbizkit :
I don't think this will be the death of CD's nor does it prove that the internet is the future of selling music. Only a huge rock icon like Trent Reznor could pull off something like this. I doubt your average garage band or musician could follow the same path with similar success.

Yeah I somewhat agree I think part of the reason why I did soe well for NIN is because theyre already really well known and have a huge fan base thus hteres already a ton of people out there who will buy the music, whereas new bands have a muchm ore diminished audience and still need to acquire the huge fanbase that bands like NIN and RAdiohead have

[LynchMobster]

And of that 1.6 mil, $750,000 was from just the $300 edition

[grungeisdeaduk]

Alucard II wrote:

Chex wrote:

$300 for an autographed version? Who's gonna pay that?i guarantee you the autographed one will sell out

already has

[jd1990]

awesome. I love NIN and the new album kicks major ass.

[Snipe]

He has some respect for distributing his music like this, but he's also a ****ing ******* for insulting Radiohead and saying their music wasn't free enough.

[Broken_Drum]

ATGreat wrote:

not to bee the *****, but ghosts sucked bad.
I've lost all respect for this band, seriously, rad somewhere that "this is music to day dream to", wtf, it's more like an acid trip, with ****ed up noises. shit, congratulations on the shittload of effects on this, but that is all you have, a shittload of shit. seriously, I actually liked this band, when it was still a band. now, it is just, how to say, painfull sounds.

What are you 12?

[JoeyDengler]

fair play to trent he well and truly deserves it - i was oh so happy when i realized hes still bringing it out on CD format - it restored my faith in things. But i think because of his dealings with TVT he doesnt actually make any money off of PHT and Broken - he may do now but i know for ages he didnt get a penny for them and also his manager was ripping him off and Trent nearly had to file for bankruptcy so h deserves every bit of money he makes.

[sadistic_monkey]

He damn well deserves that money. He's been working his arse off for years and probably handing cash to record labels. I downloaded Ghosts I and its bloody good, looking to get the rest as soon as I have any money.

[dylanfromearth]

i hear that the cd is black but when you put it in the computer it turns white bc of the heat, i might just buy the cd for that alone

[No_Quarter]

Alucard II wrote:

Chex wrote:

$300 for an autographed version? Who's gonna pay that?
i guarantee you the autographed one will sell out

^^^^^
It already did in the first week homie

[Broken_Drum]

dylanfromearth wrote:

i hear that the cd is black but when you put it in the computer it turns white bc of the heat, i might just buy the cd for that alone

That's Year Zero.

[RageAgnstUrJaw]

I'm not a huge NIN fan, although I do enjoy a few of the songs, but that's awesome work by Trent. Good for him, and I'm glad that the record companies get a giant middle finger in their face from that.

Hopefully more and more bands will catch on.

[C-RIS15]

unbelievable album, I have had it on nonstop as background music for the last couple days.

[catchtherainbow]

He knows how to market himself.

[GuitarplayaMD]

Incredible...kudos to Trent.

[bootyking69]

are these people crazy???!! $300 dollars for an autographed version!!! omg i got throwdown to sign their new cd for me for free at warped tour.

id pay $300 for a pink floyd signed box set by the whole band including syd and with david gilmours underwear from the wall tour. never to nin

[gifted_awakenin]

Trent Reznor is a genius

[paintITblack39]

Checked.

[timster36]

I spent $5 on the album and its the best quality of music I've heard all year. I actually enjoy putting it on, and listening to it all the way through (3 hours).

[JRowe3388]

Dammit guys. The $300 version had WAY more than the autographed CD. I believe it had art, a book, vinyls, CDs, DVDs and all that shit.

[JRowe3388]

Also, Ghosts is ****ing rad.

[that_1_dude24]

It's a great album.
I've listened to all of it straight through at least 10 times.

[reactionzero10]

Isn't Sevendust doing this also like putting it out on their own thing?

[Kelicon]

bootyking69 wrote:

are these people crazy???!! $300 dollars for an autographed version!!! omg i got throwdown to sign their new cd for me for free at warped tour.

id pay $300 for a pink floyd signed box set by the whole band including syd and with david gilmours underwear from the wall tour. never to nin

lol, well first off that pink floyd box set would cost probably at least a quarter million itself... and i've seen them a few times, Throwdown's autograph ain't really something to brag about, not a very talented band. and as others have already stated, the box included the autograph, art, dvd's, vinyls, blu rays, the cd's.... everything, costs altogether were probably around 300 just to MAKE the damn thing

[Infamou$17]

Not a NIN fan or anything, but Trent Reznor is a smart motherf*cker. Glad to see NIN and Radiohead have figured out how to beat the system and do what they want and get paid what they deserve. I hope more bands get the opportunity to do this, then maybe the record companies will learn a thing or two

[cobain_is_king]

This ain't no thread buddy. Don't bash folks for their musical tastes.

[nathantayloryes]

FUCK! how did i not know about this?!
right im off to their website to get this!

[musiclover2399]

That's all so badass, marketing yourself minus a record company... of course they probably hired accountants and management, but still, you know? I also find it interesting you can get the album in several different ways.

[Doragg]

fhqwgads wrote:

Wow, I didn't even realize there was a new one out. That's gotta be a record for Trent, with his precedented 5+ years in between most albums.

Trent was doing lots of drugs and was under a lot of stress back in the 90's. His grandmother being sick was pretty hard on him too because he was raised by his grandparents. When With Teeth Released he was sober and quit doing drugs, and he said that music was so much more important to him now so he's been coming out with a lot of stuff. He's a musical genius!

$300 for a autographed box set is nothing. Throwdown is a small band and their not very big. You getting them to sign your CD was an honor to them because they're just trying to make their name heard. If you brought a NIN cd to Trent Reznor after one of his concerts, he wouldn't charge you a penny to sign it, he'd be happy to.

[Gerard_grr]

oh shit i want that

[darkfire_storm]

in his picture on the front page, Reznor looks a little like Christian Bale.

[uhh_me?]

checked

[ATGreat]

Broken_Drum wrote:

ATGreat wrote:

not to bee the *****, but ghosts sucked bad.
I've lost all respect for this band, seriously, rad somewhere that "this is music to day dream to", wtf, it's more like an acid trip, with ****ed up noises. shit, congratulations on the shittload of effects on this, but that is all you have, a shittload of shit. seriously, I actually liked this band, when it was still a band. now, it is just, how to say, painfull sounds.What are you 12?

no, sorry, 22.

[Phoenix_24Leas]

Actually, I'm sorry to say but I'm still kinda disapointed that its an instrumental, I mean really? an instrumental? one of the most definitive things about his music is his voice and lyrics and without those it just kinda seems pointless.

[korn_dawg]

Cooper1983 wrote:

Powerhouse wrote:

One of those transactions was from me.

Great album.

2 from me! $5 and $75 versions. Trent deserves every penny he earns from this. The guy is a genius.

..You know if you preordered the $75 version you can download the files too? No need to buy the $5 downloads again lol

[korn_dawg]

timster36 wrote:

I spent $5 on the album and its the best quality of music I've heard all year. I actually enjoy putting it on, and listening to it all the way through (3 hours).

just short of 2, really

[the boogieman]

impressive

im not a fan of his music, but his marketing abilities are quite impressive

[Neon D-von]

^^^
agreed

[TheAngryMob875]

yeah, great orginal idea trent reznor. notl iek anyone has done this before.


*Radiohead pwns*

[TheAngryMob875]

Infamou$17 wrote:

Not a NIN fan or anything, but Trent Reznor is a smart motherf*cker. Glad to see NIN and Radiohead have figured out how to beat the system and do what they want and get paid what they deserve. I hope more bands get the opportunity to do this, then maybe the record companies will learn a thing or two

NIN AND Radiohead? Are you ****ing stupid? It was radioheads idea one hundred percent, they compeltely ripped thom yorke and co. off from that. The way to "Beat te system" is by being original and unique, and there's only band ive mentioned that has done that.,

[ThunderPX]

Not necessarily. Reznor was talking about something like this way before Radiohead did it, and he probably would have done it first if it weren't for his contract. Nevertheless, this probably wouldn't have been as successful without NIN's major label ride for the last decade and over.

[K. Hoaglund]

This is the way to go if you have a good fan base. The you you get to keep the money instead of getting a small piece of the pie while everyone else gets a bigger slice from your hard work. And in the words of Gene Simmons, " the fans killed the record industry and the artist's cause they didn't want to pay for it", meaning sharing without buying it. Thats how artist's make part of their living. If they can do it like NIN here, SCREW THE RECORD COMPANIES. They just got greedy anyways. They don't care about artist's or their talent. They just want the buck and don't mess with the formula. All the A&R people come from accounting now. Not true music lovers and not beleivers in the Artist's.

[insaneBeing0]

if you don't like ghosts, then smoke a spliff first and enjoy. people are so picky these days.

[meh!]

*checked*

[GeekStinkBreath]

TheAngryMob875 wrote:
NIN AND Radiohead? Are you ****ing stupid? It was radioheads idea one hundred percent, they compeltely ripped thom yorke and co. off from that. The way to "Beat te system" is by being original and unique, and there's only band ive mentioned that has done that.,

Radiohead did it to stop a leak, then they released through labels just like everyone else. They didn't do anything drastically different, except make money off what would've happened with a leak.

What NIN did was completely different.

[Anjohl]

Trent may have not innovated the internet distribution, but hes going to utilize it better, just you watch.

Radiohead don't actively promote ANYTHING, they are just "alternative for alternative's sake", whiny, brooding, etc. Trent is an intelligent man with an agenda he wants to promote, and he has been very successful with this. I think Radiohead will be rememebered as the band that started it, but NiN will be noted as the entity that really made it happen mainstream wise.

[Broken_Drum]

TheAngryMob875 wrote:

Infamou$17 wrote:

Not a NIN fan or anything, but Trent Reznor is a smart motherf*cker. Glad to see NIN and Radiohead have figured out how to beat the system and do what they want and get paid what they deserve. I hope more bands get the opportunity to do this, then maybe the record companies will learn a thing or two



NIN AND Radiohead? Are you ****ing stupid? It was radioheads idea one hundred percent, they compeltely ripped thom yorke and co. off from that. The way to "Beat te system" is by being original and unique, and there's only band ive mentioned that has done that.,

You do know that Trent talked about doing that waaaaay before Radiohead released In Rainbows, right? No one is copying anyone.

[Doragg]

Phoenix_24Leas wrote:

Actually, I'm sorry to say but I'm still kinda disapointed that its an instrumental, I mean really? an instrumental? one of the most definitive things about his music is his voice and lyrics and without those it just kinda seems pointless.

I don't know how long you have been a NIN fan, but Trent has always made instrumental remixes, and then remixes with lyrics. Sure, Trent's voice is beautiful and his lyrics can knock me on my ass, but the instruments themselves define his music so much more. I have yet to hear a band sound anything like NIN. Remember these words...

“I think there's something strangely musical about noise.” ~Trent Reznor

[perilouspete]

hell of a lot of money for doing a bunch of instrumental loops

[Broken_Drum]

perilouspete wrote:

hell of a lot of money for doing a bunch of instrumental loops

Yes, that's all they were "a bunch of instrumental loops", well done sir.

[Knotism]

EyeHateNIN.. did you get it?

[hendrixfreak93]

the only great musician my town ever created.
good job trent reznor

[MetallicaFan333]

Dude, if this album was so good, I guess they learned what not to do while writing the WithTeeth album because that one SUCKED MAJOR ASS!!! Damn... I guess WithTeeth was sorta' like a crash course or something because the only song that was good on that album was "Only"... So, yeah... Later...

[MetallicaFan333]

Also, $300 for an autographed CD? That's ridiculous, I'd only pay that if it were all the CD's of Metallica, signed by the whole band, except Cliff because he's dead, and they would have to throw in a signed picture with me in it before I fork over $300... Damn... He's retarded, he might as well ask his guitar player to pawn his amps if he needs the money that bad... Because he'd get it faster and easier that way... Later...

[Broken_Drum]

MetallicaFan333 wrote:

Also, $300 for an autographed CD? That's ridiculous, I'd only pay that if it were all the CD's of Metallica, signed by the whole band, except Cliff because he's dead, and they would have to throw in a signed picture with me in it before I fork over $300... Damn... He's retarded, he might as well ask his guitar player to pawn his amps if he needs the money that bad... Because he'd get it faster and easier that way... Later...

Okay.

[The Spoon]

MetallicaFan333 wrote:

Also, $300 for an autographed CD? That's ridiculous, I'd only pay that if it were all the CD's of Metallica, signed by the whole band, except Cliff because he's dead, and they would have to throw in a signed picture with me in it before I fork over $300... Damn... He's retarded, he might as well ask his guitar player to pawn his amps if he needs the money that bad... Because he'd get it faster and easier that way... Later...

That package sold out in like a couple of hours

[AnimatedHand]

can you get this on CD, or can you only download it?

[Broken_Drum]

You can get it on CD, yes.

[AnimatedHand]

thanks =)

[Spiritweaver]

bootyking69 wrote:

are these people crazy???!! $300 dollars for an autographed version!!! omg i got throwdown to sign their new cd for me for free at warped tour.

id pay $300 for a pink floyd signed box set by the whole band including syd and with david gilmours underwear from the wall tour. never to nin

Then again... it's Throwdown... so wow, congratulations for comparing NIN to a bunch of nobodies.