NIN Releases Garageband Sources For 3 New Tracks

Kethinov writes "Nine Inch Nails has once again released the sources in Garageband format for three of their tracks from their new album Year Zero. You can also download user-created remixes. Trent Reznor claims that he plans to release the entire album this way."

Comments

Also released in 'Generic Format'...

[Angostura]

... for other applications, via torrent on the same page.

RIAA

[revengebomber]

I hope I'm not sued for downloading them.

Re:Why Apple?

[MrPerfekt]

Pardon my ignorance, but what this has to do with Apple?

Well, GarageBand is a Mac-only application written by Apple.

That'd be a good place to start.

I know this probably sounds like a troll...

[photomonkey]

A band puts out their music for their fans to mess around with electronically, in a common format for very inexpensive software. Pretty neat shit.

A band can sell/giveaway/whatever their music through Apple iTMS (seriously, check out The Cells; a really kickass band, not mine.) or various other people with enough bandwidth and code to be able to sell or giveaway electronic tracks.

T-shirts, posters and other merchandise can be bought on-demand from certain sites and can be made in bulk cheaper than ever before.

Remind me again: Why do we need traditional record labels anymore? I mean, sure a band might not as easily book a night at Shea Stadium without Sony, but if smaller bands were able to keep more of their money (via not having to hand 80% of it over to the label), they don't need to play places as big as Shea Stadium regularly to still live the 'rockstar' lifestyle.

I think it's very funny that a Nine Inch Nail is helping to drive The Nail into the coffin of the record industry.

Re:I know this probably sounds like a troll...

[Timesprout]

they don't need to play places as big as Shea Stadium regularly to still live the 'rockstar' lifestyle

Actually they do. Few bands/musicians are actually properly able manage this lifestyle and the majority of those who can have been around for a very long time, long enough and with enough sales to get a decent deal from the record companies. Of course there is the odd exception with someone like Robbie Williams who for some unknown reason scored a huge contract off EMI.

Much of the lifestyle you see with modern artists is funded by the record companies and when the sales dry up the cars, planes and cribs tend to vanish with them.

Finally

[zappepcs]

Not to press a point, but NIN has been pushing a viral release of their new CD for some time now. They are a band that 'gets it' so to speak. They will make money even while giving away their music. If only the RIAA will learn from this, give content in new ways, give content that is more than an MP3 file, give content that is *WORTH* paying for.

I don't care if you don't like NIN's music, you have to admire how they are approaching the new medium and embracing a new environment. I will buy their CD just to have that heat sensitive label. NIN 'gets it' in my opinion.

Re:Finally

[Mr. Flibble]

Did you notice his comment about using torrents... and that the torrents are hosted on the pirate bay?

Brillant.

Re:Finally

[hmccabe]

I don't care if you don't like NIN's music, you have to admire how they are approaching the new medium and embracing a new environment. I will buy their CD just to have that heat sensitive label. NIN 'gets it' in my opinion.

Absolutely. I'm a music student in a program for digital arts and experimental media*, and I think it's fantastic to see a well established band taking steps to move the music industry forward. I don't care for NIN music (like, at all), but you have to hand it to them, I haven't seen anyone else do more to connect with their fan base, educate interested parties in the process of modern production and composition, and build interest about a new release. With the option of digital distribution, I can use techniques such as this to market my music (and hopefully monetize it through instructional downloads/official tab PDFs) while remaining free of an RIAA contract. If Trent were here, I'd say "good show." I'd probably also say "cheer up dude."

*University of Washington, Seattle if you care. :)

Re:Finally

[sg3000]

> his stuff doesn't seem to have progressed much.

I think his stuff has progressed a little bit. It's a little more organic sounding, particularly compared to Pretty Hate Machine. For example, one of the songs on his new album has a trumpet!

More importantly, I think his lyrics have gotten more mature. A lot of Pretty Hate Machine all the way to his previous two albums were about angst and navel gazing: "Woe is me, someone I love dumped me!". Maybe throw in a bit of "wow, the music industry is full of phonies! I blame you, God!". Maybe it's completely appropriate when you're a teenager or in college, but as you get older, it's a bit tiring.

"With Teeth" represented a shift in his lyrics in that they're more mature and he seems to be finally using his bully pulpit to say something important. "The Hand That Feeds" is a brilliant questioning of the war in Iraq ("what if this whole crusade is a charade?"). "Every Day is Exactly The Same" perfectly describes my job (particularly after a bitterly depressing day) after working for more than a decade ("I believe I can see the future, 'cause I repeat the same routine.")

Year Zero improves on that even more. He's gone from complaining about his love life to providing an interesting commentary and warning against the move to fascism. My favorite track "Capital G" is a perfect description a young Republican or someone who is on his way to becoming a "Brown Shirt".

So while the music isn't wildly different, I think that his lyrics have matured quite a bit. In that way, he's gone from entertainment to art, and it makes his music far more interesting.

Why don't you actually follow link...

[SuperKendall]

I assume the parent simply means that these are instrumental and acapella versions of the song.

You didn't have to ASSume anything (proving out the old saying in the process), simply following the link you find this text:

For the first time in Barenaked Ladies history we are making available for download multitracks of our songs. May we introduce "Easy", "Wind It Up", "Bank Job", "Rule the World With Love", "I Can I Will I Do" and "Maybe You're Right" off our upcoming album Barenaked Ladies Are Me. It is our hope that you will remix, re-create, re-edit, re-configure, and realize what you will with these parts in coming up with your own versions. All tracks here are 16 bit 44.1kHz WAV files ready for re-mixing. Cost for all tracks of each song is $2.49. (note: all multitracks are copyrighted material)

and clicking on any song tells you something along these lines:

It is our hope that you will remix, re-create, re-edit, re-configure, and realize what you will with these parts in coming up with your own versions. All 11 tracks (5 of which are stereo - making 16 total) here are in 16 bit 44.1kHz WAV files ready for re-mixing. Cost for all tracks is $2.49 (note: all multitracks are copyrighted material).

These are real multi-tracks, with instruments and vocals split out.

It doesn't get any more re-mixable.

Re:As a iMac owner

[Anonymous Coward]

You need to ``lock'' some tracks by clicking the little lock icon at the left side of the main GarageBand window for each one. Locking renders the track to the hard disk, decreasing CPU usage (but increasing I/O).

Re:Why Apple?

[appleguru]

Apple is also HOSTING these rather large garageband files for NIN:

http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/nin/me_im_ not.zip

http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/nin/capita l_g.zip

http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/nin/my_vio lent_heart.zip

And a fourth not linked to from the NIN main page:

http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/nin/surviv alism.zip

Re:Why Apple?

[zmollusc]

So why are his song lyrics always along the lines of 'Oh crikey, life is horrible! Everything is dreadful! I am so depressed! Blimey, things just took an unexpected turn for the worse!' ? Are macs that bad?

Re:Why Apple?

[The One and Only]

That's only half-correct. Apple purchased Emagic (makers of Logic, a professional audio editing program) in 2002 and GarageBand was shipped as an Apple product in 2005. So they did purchase the personnel and maybe even some of the code used in GarageBand, but the product itself was first developed and sold by Apple.

Re:A sign of things to come?

[Bacon Bits]

Life's too short and I've too many other interests to worry about customising everything to the way I think it should be.

Some people say the same thing about an operating system. They tend to get mocked as luddites here on SlashDot, or tools of Microsoft.

Not saying I disagree with you. Just trying to give you some perspective.

Alternate Reality Game

[celerityfm]

Something else to consider regarding the significance of these releases- NiN also launched an ARG called Year Zero as well, and the album is simply just part of the ARG- Reznor said "What you are now starting to experience [,the ARG,] IS 'year zero'. It's not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record - it IS the art form... and we're just getting started. Hope you enjoy the ride." Reznor has also called the Year Zero game "a new entertainment form."

So, they also release the individual tracks from the songs of the album, in Garage Band and other formats. Bad ass. But you know what else? This is all part of the game - some of the songs contain hidden pictures, backmasked vocals that lead to website addresses, and there's even morse code on the album.

It is expected that there will be even more hidden goodness available to us now that we can examine the individual tracks. Not only that but holy crap some of these hidden tracks are creepy- the Reaktor instrument in My Violent Heart, for example.

And the heat sensitive label freaked me out, even though I knew it was going to change... that of course revealed another code for the ARG. All the songs seem different after reading up on the ARG. And thats the thing- this album is another concept album, but instead it centers around a fictional future universe rather then being a big metaphor for Trent's own trials and tribulations. Though I'm sure some of those are mixed in too ;)