NIN and Saul Williams 'do a Radiohead'

Yesterday churned out another relatively interesting development in this 'free music for all' period. Saul Williams, whose album was produced and mixed by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, is releasing a new album in a similar way to Radiohead.

Trent posted a message on Nine Inch Nail's official website yesterday explaining the details of the release. Like the release of 'In Rainbows' by Radiohead, fans can pre-order the album 'Niggy Tardust' for download on November 1st.

But where it differs to the way that Radiohead did business is in the pricing. There are two purchase options. If you choose to download it for free, you will get the album in a basic 192kbps mp3 format. However, if you choose to 'support the artist directly' by paying $5 (I think that is just over £2 in UK money), you have a choice to download it in 192kbps mp3 form, 320kbps mp3 form or a FLAC lossless audio.

It's a neat progression on what was already a good idea by Radiohead. As Trent said in his blog post, if you can't be arsed to read the link:

I feel we've improved upon their idea in a few profound ways that benefit you, the consumer. You obviously will be the judge of this in the end. One thing that IS very different in our situation is that Saul's not the household name (yet!) that Radiohead is, and that means we need your support on this more than ever. If you like what you hear, spread the word.

I am not totally unfamiliar with Saul Williams. The first I heard of him was when he released 'List Of Demands' as a single back in 2005. I do know that he and Trent have a very solid working partnership. Saul has supported Nine Inch Nails and even performed tracks with Trent's band whilst on tour with them. He also did backing vocals for 'Survivalism', which was the lead single of 'Year Zero'.

One thing that is for sure though is that this is yet another exciting evolution of this so-called 'new business model' - of which Alan McGee, one of the key figures in the Britpop era, is a very big supporter of. I can imagine these kind of things, along with The Verve's releasing of a demo track (which I reviewed yesterday) to constantly evolve as the weeks go by.

In short, it's quite an exciting time for the music industry - as corny as it sounds.

I found this article written a few weeks by a blogger called Maki. Even though her blog isn't music based (it is based on making money through online ventures), it a very comprehensive and detailed analysis of ways that bands are defying the major labels. Well worth a read if you have ten/fifteen minutes to spare, if you can ignore the Radiohead fangirl approach at the start!

DIGG IT!