Call it a publicity stunt of unknown dimensions, a bold move or going with the time it all comes down to the following. Nine Inch Nails will get a huge publicity boost mainly from Internet sites that report about this. They will rise in popularity especially among filesharers and advocates of DRM free music that could very well use the move from NiN to show the world that the new album from Nine Inch Nails is selling well even though it was pre-released on major torrent sites. (not by them of course).

It would be very interesting to analyze the sales of their newest record before and after uploading the three songs to the Piratebay. Nine Inch Nails are the prime example of a band that is not fighting against the new trends of distributing media but use it to their advantage. They realized that the music is no longer the most important factor to decide whether to buy a CD or download it but the additional value that comes with a purchase.

Their newest CD is black at the beginning but becomes white after being played. They hide bonus tracks in encrypted messages on the Cds and offer a great booklet. I was always very disappointed about the booklets of most new CDs and I think this is one of the reasons why people don’t think that buying CDs would give them an additional value. (if you don’t care about the legal – illegal point of view)