Reznor finds NiggyTardustsales "disheartening"

Mon 7th Jan, 2008 in International News

In a post on the Nine Inch Nails website, Trent Reznor has expressed disappointment at the results of his latest project.

The rock dissident acted as producer on Saul Williams’ excellent (and brilliantly titled) new album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust, and employed a similar mode of distribution as Radiohead. Fans can download the album for free, or pay $5 US for a higher-quality MP3.

In his 3 January post, Reznor shared the sales figures. “Perhaps by revealing all of our data – our ‘dirty laundry’ – we can contribute to a better solution,” he reasoned.

“As of 1/2/08, 154,449 people chose to download Saul’s new record. 28,322 of those people chose to pay $5 for it, meaning: 18.3% chose to pay.

“Is it good news that less than one in five feel it was worth $5? I’m not sure what I was expecting but that percentage—primarily from fans—seems disheartening?”

Reznor does concede, though, that barely any money was spent on promoting the album.

“Saul’s music is in more peoples’ iPods than ever before and people are interested in him. He’ll be touring throughout the year and we will continue to get the word out however we can.”

Check out Nine Inch Nails and Saul Williams sharing a stage in 2005. Stirring stuff…