The clever marketing of Nine Inch Nails

Let’s really date myself, ok? I was talking just yesterday with Rebecca that I was one of “those kids” in high school. One of those folks who would sketch the Nine Inch Nails logo in my notebook as study hall would tick along. Was I a social outcast in the midst of a goth phase during my adolescence years? Nope. I just dug the tunes, and that hasn’t changed a whole lot today, minus the notebook doodles.

When I think about it now, my mind starts to contemplate the marketing genius that Trent Reznor[wiki] conjured up when he formed this music project, and this is outside of the realms of creating music. He’s not afraid to say that the reason that he created the whole “NIN” branding is because it is just that. Instead of needing a name for recognition, he has garnered a symbol.

Of course he’s not the only guy to do this. Off the top of my head, Prince did the same thing. It was a little later in his career that this happened, but that squiggly, male/female thing will be forever branded with him and his fans. Other bands do this from time to time, mostly as a branding for their album. I’m sure that someone else can chime is with examples of both of these methods.

I have to extend a little more credit to what Trent Reznor is doing right now. Some would call him washed up, but say what you will. Every time I hear something new, I have the thought in my head that I used to listen to that when I was 16 and that seems soooo 1995 now. Then, I find that I actually like it. Am I afraid to admit that? Not really, and there are so many other things that I listen to that would probably throw you for a loop, not to mention if you even heard of them before. So, whatever.

Anyhow, it was this piece of news that prompted me to say anything about our conversation from yesterday.

Nine Inch Nails, who are proving themselves one of the most daring and forward-looking artists on a major label today, have released three tracks from their brand new album, Year Zero via BiTorrent, and more astoundingly, have done so via the controversial giant BitTorrent site, The Pirate Bay.

The Pirate Bay, a wildly popular BitTorrent site, has earned the scorn and more than one lawsuit from law enforcement worldwide, but has proven to be astoundingly successful. The planned leaking of music by a major label artist on a site which exists in – at best – a legal grey area is truly remarkable. In this case, Nine Inch Nails released full multi-track versions of three songs from the album for users to remix or listen to at extremely high sound quality. They are promising that the entire album will be available over the next few weeks. [punknews]

I like forward thinking, plain and simple. This also makes me more than likely to get my hands on a free copy of this new album. You can argue if that’s wrong, but if I tell you where you can download this as well, and then you like it, what’s the chances that you’ll check out more of their stuff or go to a show? Take that concept away from Nine Inch Nails and apply it to someone else that you are a fan of.

This is close to where I would like to see the music industry go, but there has to be some certainty to the formula. Harvey Danger has tried this, but I can’t be sure about it’s success. Their website is still up, so that’s a good sign.