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Free MP3 Download was Number One Album
Despite being available as a free download, Amazon’s best selling download album of 2008 was part one of Ghosts I-IV from Nine Inch Nails.
Now, for those of you unsure as to who, or what, Nine Inch Nails is, then here’s the answer: it’s an industrial rock act formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1988 by one Trent Reznor.
Effectively Reznor is Nine Inch Nails as he’s the only official member and he takes on the role of performer, songwriter and producer. When he performs live, he hires other artists to make up a live band, as well as employing spectacular stage effects.
Eclectic in musical forms, he arranges pieces that range freely across a number of genres, with electronic effects and processing at their heart.
Released via BitTorrent, the four Ghosts albums from Nine Inch Nails were released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Non-Commercial/Share Alike licence, which basically means free, within certain criteria.
To dwell on this a minute, you are allowed to download the music for free and then distribute, copy or perform the work, or to remix and make derivative works, only if: a. you attribute the work as specified by its author (without suggesting their approval, or their endorsement); b. you do it for non-commercial reasons (you may not use the music to make money); and, c. if you do play around with the music, you may only distribute it under the same terms as it was originally distributed.
Crucially, by an artist allowing free access to his work, he is maintaining a degree of control over his creative energies and the subsequent product marketing. For many artists this has been an incredible empowerment and a major source of worry for the record companies who previously dominated at least the marketing process behind making music.
But for you, as the free user, there is almost a moral commitment to be worthy of the artist’s trust.
Of course, this is not a purely altruistic move from the artists. Many are now beginning to understand the finer points of online, guerilla and viral marketing. To put it simply, making a free download does not mean you decimate your sales and, on the contrary, can actually increase them. And Reznor, via his creative platform Nine Inch Nails, has proven this.
And the 64,000 dollar question is of course, why would someone pay for a download when they can get it for free?
There are a number of answers to this, the main being that fans realise that by coughing up some money, they are helping their beloved artist survive financially; not everyone knows what tracks are free at any given time; some people are unsure as to how to download free music without worrying about infringing laws; and, others have no idea where to access the free downloads. So, when it comes down to it, it’s fans willingness to pay for favourite artists and convenience.
And those artists that understand how to capture the hearts and minds of their fanbase with free downloads, are true exponents of guerilla marketing (whereby word-of-mouth recommendations do the selling for you).
So when it comes to downloading music from your favourite group, it might be worth checking it out if you can get it for free; legally of course.
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