NEWS: Nine Inch Nails give record companies the slip

Nine Inch Nails have made their latest album available to download completely and utterly free from the band's website.

What's more, 'The Slip' is available in four different formats – MP3, Apple Lossless, FLAC and WAVE 24/96.

Well aware that some people will still want a hard copy, the band make a note of saying a vinyl and CD release will follow in July.

Once you've entered your email address, which the site assures you won't be used for spam or sent on to anyone else, you'll be sent a link from where you can choose your download, which is delivered via the torrent application of your choice.

As the website states, the band see this is a way of giving something back to their fans: "As a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new Nine Inch Nails album one hundred percent free, exclusively via nin.com."

Trent Reznor and co. are clearly happy with their decision, urging downloaders to share the free music with as many people as possible: "We encourage you to share it with your friends, post it on your blog, play it on your podcast, give it to strangers, etc."

So it's three cheers for NiN – we're struggling to see a bad side to this news. Free music in high quality audio, and with a hard copy to follow for those who want it. As the website states: "Enjoy..." Click here for more.

Technorati Tags: download, FLAC, MP3, NiN, nine inch nails, the slip

Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).