Yesterday, we posted an MP3 of a new Nine Inch Nails song that we found while doing our daily elbo.ws lap; after a brusquely worded note from Antipiracy@riaa.com, we removed the file, and that was that. Or so we thought. Today, we found a NIN-related Digg link that claimed the song had been “found on a usb drive in a bathroom in Portugal,” which set off our “painstakingly crafted backstory” alarms. The file we posted yesterday was, in fact, tagged with that little bit of lore, along with a URL; as it turns out, the linked site is one of many viral-marketing outposts for the forthcoming NIN record. Which bolsters our theory that the leak was engineered by someone in the Reznor camp–after all, the number of alt-rock stations has been steadily decreasing for a while now, and labels have to be creative about getting songs that might not get airplay out to the public.
So what about that RIAA notice? Are they just working at cross-purposes with Nine Inch Nails’ marketing consultants, or is this whole scheme yet another attempt to simultaneously make music bloggers look dumb and exploit their ability to get songs “out there”? We’re sort of disgusted either way, which means that everyone loses. (P.S. Those “Web sites from the future”? They look like they’ve been in a time capsule since the last dot-bomb era.)
Nine Inch Nails Concept Album Builds Story With Websites From The Future [Digg.com]
Earlier: Leak Of The Day: Nine Inch Nails’ “Heart” Attack
It definitely was Reznor. My roommate runs that site that was digged (http://www.yaymita.net), and she got the MP3 from a message that was sent out by Trent to a handful of people on a NIN messageboard that he regularly posts on. She also got a halt called on her by the DMCA for posting that track…
Are you trying to seduce me, Mr. Reznor?
This is far too complicated, Trent. Just invest in some eye liner, show your junk on the internet and voila! Your album debuts at No. 1.
Uh, oh. It’s a political concept album!? I’m not sure Reznor even has the deftness of Prince during his ‘Ronnie, Talk To Russia’ phase. This is why I often ignore lyrics.
I kinda think it’s a good idea. From a marketing point of view. From a music listener point of view, I couldn’t care less. I liked the fake forum on “anotherversionofthetruth.com.” Here is one of the posts:
Rome, they�re right. Something is coming. I don�t have to convince you, though.
You�ll find out the fucking hard way soon enough.
I�m clean, I�m smart, I�m off Parepin. I don�t use or abuse, I don�t believe in ghosts
or God or aliens. But I saw it. Two days ago, I was getting off shift. It came down
maybe three blocks away. When it was over I had pissed myself and I was
crying like a four years old.
I went through this thing like I was the whole planet and I was us raping the planet
at the same time. Paving over every field and dumping crap in every river.
I worked with this woman and when it was over she was saying it was an angel. I
sure as hell hope not. Whatever it is, it is *coming*. Now. And it is *pissed.