RIAA targets label-backed NIN leaks
April 5, 2007
By Jim Welte
By leaving music-loaded USB keys at restrooms during tour, band leaks tracks, but industry’s enforcer cracks down on blogs that post them.
When the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA) led a raid of mixtape king DJ Drama’s Atlanta offices in January, it left many wondering why the industry would crack down on a practice that subsidizes the marketing budgets of major labels.
Now a similar incident has arisen. The RIAA has been sending cease-and-desist letters to blogs and sites that posted leaks of Nine Inch Nails’ forthcoming album, Year Zero, despite the fact that those leaks came from Trent Reznor and company themselves.
According to Billboard.com, the leaks stemmed from USB keys the band had left at venues along its recent European tour. Fans discovered them and posted the tracks online, and blogs like Idolator subsequently posted them. Those sites then received cease-and-desist letters from the RIAA, amounting to the industry cracking down on a marketing campaign that the label had backed.
RIAA spokesperson Jenni Engebretsen confirmed to MP3.com today that “letters were sent out at the request of the label” but declined to say whether the trade group intended to follow up on the letters with any action or if the label had requested that it let the matter rest.
Year Zero hits stores April 17, and whether or not it’s a result of the leak snafu, NIN has posted the entire album as a stream on its Web site. The marketing has also incorporated cryptic phrases on T-shirts, sporadically appearing song titles on the band’s Web site, and fake Web sites for governments, revolutionaries, and companies.
In early February, Web-savvy fans discovered that highlighted letters inside words on a NIN tour T-shirt spelled out “I am trying to believe.” Savvy fans added a “.com” to the five words and, voila, located a thought-provoking, eerie Web site. Other associated sites created by 42 Entertainment, where a dark future reigns supreme, were soon discovered. Within days, the blogosphere was rich with anxious NIN fans sharing their experiences on message boards.
In addition, the songs that were leaked were DRM-free, and some of them were in formats that allowed them to be remixed with sequencing software.
Trent follows up
9.16.07
By Trent Reznor
“Last time I was here, I was doing a lot of complaining about the ridiculous prices of CDs down here. And that story got picked up and got carried all around the world and now my record label all around the world hates me, because I yelled at them, I called them out for being greedy fucking assholes. I didn’t get a chance to check, has the price come down at all? I see a no, a no, a no… Has anyone seen the price come down? Okay, well, you know what that means – STEAL IT. Steal away. Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin’. Because one way or another these motherfuckers will get it through their head that they’re ripping people off and that that’s not right.”