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NIN Releases Garageband Sources For 3 New Tracks 192

Posted by CowboyNeal from the play-it-your-way dept.
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."
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NIN Releases Garageband Sources For 3 New Tracks More

NIN Releases Garageband Sources For 3 New Tracks

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  • Also released in 'Generic Format'... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Angostura ( 703910 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @01:10AM (#18896793)
    ... for other applications, via torrent on the same page.

  • RIAA (Score:4, Funny)

    by revengebomber ( 1080189 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @01:10AM (#18896797)
    I hope I'm not sued for downloading them.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Provocateur ( 133110 )
      Wait, so if I buy the NIN CD of legally downloadable music, would that make me a ninja? Or a pirate in a bizarre alternate universe?
       

  • BNL also has a number of remixable songs (Score:3, Informative)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @01:15AM (#18896825)
    BNL (Barenaked Ladies, from Canada) also has a number of remixable songs where you can download songs with the tracks split out [barenakedladies.com].

    These cost $2.49 for each song-related set of tracks (all in WAV) but that's more than fair for a bunch of lossless tracks that you can use for whatever. Pretend to be Ed or Steve just by leaving out a track and filling in yourself!

    • How is this "Offtopic". You can download for the six songs listed a set of 11 or so different tracks, with vocals and instruments split out - you simply drag all the tracks into GarageBand and play with to your hearts content.

      Some people may like BNL more than NIN. For those people, BNL also offers a fun exploration of remixing with good quality tracks.

  • Why Apple? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SolitaryMan ( 538416 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @01:19AM (#18896855) Homepage Journal

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

    (Just asking)

  • I'm just gonna add *.myspace.* to adblock right now. I don't want to accidentally run into somebody's horrible remix of any of these great tracks.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Cinder6 ( 894572 )
      Best to block it directly in the hosts file. That way you will never have anything to do with crap^H^H^H^Hmyspace. And best of all, it's cross-browser! (Plus, it has annoyed my sister to no end)

  • I know this probably sounds like a troll... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by photomonkey ( 987563 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @01:30AM (#18896915)

    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... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @01:41AM (#18896967)

      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.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Mikachu ( 972457 )
        So get a manager. A manager would need a lot less of the money, and yet he would be paid to deal with this kind of thing. A far better idea than paying 80%+ to a record company. At that point, you really DON'T need to play in the Continental Arena to get a good chunk of cash.

      • Re:I know this probably sounds like a troll... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by photomonkey ( 987563 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @03:11AM (#18897413)

        I wasn't talking at all about sustaining the lifestyle, but rather getting to the point of having that lifestyle, however untenable, without the assistance of a record company.

        Let's say a band can make $20,000 for performing at a 5,000 seat venue as a self-promoted event without record labels getting involved. Now, if said band were signed to a label and had to pay to play (or had to sell even more to get the record company the profits they want), the band may very well have to play a 30,000 seat arena to see the same $20,000.

        They get the same amount of money either way, but since they're paying out less in scenario A, they don't need to worry about selling more seats. Then when they do get to the point of having the draw to fill Shea on their own (or have Shea approach them to do the show) they do get the super-mega-huge bucks.

        I would totally expect that what you say is correct for rockstars as much as it is for anyone else: lose the market and lose your shirt.

        What I'm saying is that bands are in a position now to be masters of their own destiny. The smart ones who understand the business will do very well for themselves, and those who have ten minutes of 'flash-in-the-pan' fame will be gone as quickly as they arrived.

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by TheForgotton ( 995762 )

          Let's say a band can make $20,000 for performing at a 5,000 seat venue as a self-promoted event without record labels getting involved. Now, if said band were signed to a label and had to pay to play (or had to sell even more to get the record company the profits they want), the band may very well have to play a 30,000 seat arena to see the same $20,000.

          They get the same amount of money either way, but since they're paying out less in scenario A, they don't need to worry about selling more seats. Then when they do get to the point of having the draw to fill Shea on their own (or have Shea approach them to do the show) they do get the super-mega-huge bucks.

          I would totally expect that what you say is correct for rockstars as much as it is for anyone else: lose the market and lose your shirt.

          I imagine that selling more seats in itself might not have the advantage in that scenario, but out of 30,000 people, there is a bigger chance of making some dough on t-shirts, posters, wallet-chains, etc. Merchandising is one of the big moneymakers for bands.

        • Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)

          by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @09:44AM (#18900349)
          Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by CrackedButter ( 646746 )
      The record industry is a big beast, you're gonna need nine inch nails to do it!

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by nwbvt ( 768631 )

      Big bands like NIN probably don't need record labels at this point, assuming they are willing to do all that boring work (marketing, accounting, production, legal, etc.) along with writing the music (Reznor might be willing there, but I imagine most are not). But a garage band has a nearly 0% chance of getting a hit on the radio without help. Yes, there are occasional exceptions, thats why I said 'nearly'.

      BTW, how do you think sucking up to the general RIAA hating /. population sounds like a troll? If

    • Why do we need traditional record labels anymore?
      To advertise music to people who commute, except those in the slim minority with a recent computer and an MP3 player and high-speed Internet access and motivation to seek out new music. Only radio reaches vehicles, and a major record label has the clout to get songs onto commercial FM radio in the United States.

  • Finally (Score:5, Insightful)

    by zappepcs ( 820751 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @01:33AM (#18896933) Journal
    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: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by TooMuchToDo ( 882796 )
      I'm a firm believer that Trent has had his shit together for quite some time. I have all of the albums (although Year Zero is the only one I purchased from iTunes, the rest are CDs). I highly suggest you go see him live. I saw him at Summerfest in Milwaukee last year, and it was a god damn amazing show (with Peaches opening for him, which made it a whole lot more interesting).

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by smittyoneeach ( 243267 ) *
        I went through college on "Pretty Hate Machine" and "Broken". Happiness in Slavery, after failing a EE exam in particular, was poignant.
        Guess I'm old now, but his stuff doesn't seem to have progressed much.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by that this is not und ( 1026860 )
          Guess I'm old now, but his stuff doesn't seem to have progressed much.

          Like Coca-Cola, he doesn't dare change the formula.

        • Re:Finally (Score:5, Insightful)

          by sg3000 ( 87992 ) * <(sg_public) (at) (mac.com)> on Friday April 27, 2007 @08:25AM (#18899287)
          > 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.
          • I also thought he hadn't progressed much over the years until I saw him at last year's Neil Young Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline.

            Mr 'techno' reznor had the guts to play not only acoustically, but also did it without a DRUMMER.

            Nothing but Acoustic piano and a string section that made a lot of noisy pendericki-type sounds.

            He said he was scared sh*tless, and didn't know if he would do it again, but he took the effort to make new arrangements of some of his newer songs and go outside his comfort zone and ch

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tragek ( 772040 )
        As just a sampler of seeing NIN live, Open Source Resistance [opensourceresistance.net] has a copy of a mini-concert that NIN put on as part of this year zero ARG. (You'll need to watch the raw footage though; the cut one doesn't have the whole concert) And I Agree with you; Impressive to see. I had a chance to see them when they came around a year or two ago, but ended up not going for a variety of reasons. I really regret that now. Here's hoping for a North American tour in late '07 or '08.

    • Re:Finally (Score:5, Funny)

      by Mr. Flibble ( 12943 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @02:30AM (#18897221) Homepage
      Did you notice his comment about using torrents... and that the torrents are hosted on the pirate bay?

      Brillant.
      • It's pretty clear that Trent Reznor also uploaded high quality versions of his Closure DVDs and the Broken Movie when he couldn't get them properly released through the record companies without hassle. They're on Pirate Bay as uploaded by "seed0". He's a hero.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Tawnos ( 1030370 )
      I think Trent takes subtle digs at the RIAA on the CD itself. There's a "morality" warning that looks very similar in style to the FBI antipiracy warning. This also brings up a question, though. There's a warning on the CD about making unauthorized duplicates and the copyright infringements related to that... but Trent's releasing all of the "source" for these songs...

      Just something to ponder.

      • Re:Finally (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Gordonjcp ( 186804 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @07:08AM (#18898573) Homepage
        There's a warning on the CD about making unauthorized duplicates and the copyright infringements related to that... but Trent's releasing all of the "source" for these songs...

        Then obviously you can make an authorised duplicate from the sources!

    • Re:Finally (Score:5, Interesting)

      by hmccabe ( 465882 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @02:43AM (#18897295)

      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: (Score:2)

      by Tim C ( 15259 )
      They are a band that 'gets it' so to speak.

      If by that you mean that they have a large and dedicated following, most of whom will buy the CDs, DVDs, T-shirts, etc and attend the concerts, then yes, they "get it". (Although by "they" I assume you mean Trent - it is still essentially a one-man band, isn't it?)

      Not all bands/stars are so blessed, even some of the big names are living essentially on hype and marketing saturation. We can argue relative worth until we're blue in the face (although I suspect I'd lik

    • 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.


      Too bad their record company doesn't [slashdot.org].
  • I have already downloaded them - proud to have garage band - but sadly I can't yet run the full songs through as they have too many tracks, and I have to figure out the optimization of Garage band to play them.

    Did not have this problem prior, but then, I never tried this with real songs.

    Has anyone else encountered the constant stoppages of garage band with these tracks?

    • Re:As a iMac owner (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 27, 2007 @02:30AM (#18897217)
      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: (Score:2)

      by Tragek ( 772040 )
      It's just too much for my little macbook, and the stuff I run regularly... Poor thing. Have to wait for the iMac to arrive.
  • So let me see....NIN are releasing the unadultarated tracks so other people can have a go at mixing and remixing the songs...

    I guess the next step involves giving everyone guitars so they can write the songs for them? ;)

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re:A sign of things to come? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Bacon Bits ( 926911 ) on Friday April 27, 2007 @03:46AM (#18897605)

        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.
      • Huh? In case you missed it, the album is already out. The files are being provided for musicians. There are zillions of people who specialize in just doing remixes, some of them very well known. And there are many people like me, who just like playing with this stuff. I've been waiting for this because I like Year Zero, but want to tone down some of the distorted noises so I can play the album loud without cringing. Once all the tracks have been released, I'll probably put my remix up on Demonoid for people
      • Nobody's forcing you to do anything. Feel free to opt out. Why are you offended that others who ARE interested are being offered the opportunity?
  • That way, if NIN go out of business and musical styles change, we will br able to recreate their songs in the new formats.

    Whew!

  • This is a good thing (Score:2, Insightful)

    by el_flynn ( 1279 )
    I for one think that this is a nice, new path for other musicians to explore. Put out a couple of tracks as teasers for the album, and if the audience likes it more likely than not they're going to end up buying the album. It doesn't cost much for him to promote the album this way (other than paying for bandwith/hosting I suppose); it sure does his "street cred" a world of good anyways.

    It feels to me like he's taking a very honest approach about it; after all if the tracks suck then the no-one's going to bu
    • Actually, Trent didn't just put out a couple of teaser tracks. He "leaked" a few songs during concerts on the European tour. Decent quality MP3s were found on USB sticks. I think this was done with 3 songs.
      Then, a few days before the release he put the whole CD up for streaming on their web-page.
      It's an awesome album by the way.
  • Slashdot will now praise Nine Inch Nails for their quality of music, their contribution to our culture, and their business sense.
  • Or at least putting it on pause for a while and summing up where we're at [exhibit24.net]. I'm 24.24.2.1251 [exhibit24.net] btw :)

  • Alternate Reality Game (Score:5, Informative)

    by celerityfm ( 181760 ) * on Friday April 27, 2007 @05:11AM (#18897985) Journal
    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 [wikipedia.org], backmasked vocals [echoingthesound.org] 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 ;)
    • That is really creepy. I'm listening to the album again with a different perspective. It reminds me of Publius Enigma [wikipedia.org], which has been ongoing since 1994, and remains unsolved.

    • Year Zero (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The year is 2022. The drug Parepin has been placed into the water supply to pacify the masses. Gay sex, topless couch potatoing, and impromptu apartment musical performances are all secretly recorded by the government. One man has been sent from the future to write the industrial ballads that will save human-kind. Only one artist can write a song to show us just how repetitively annoying the future sounds. That man is Tre... [intercepted by the government]

  • Not only is not "open", it is also remarkably stupid — the largely plain-text page (its background being a giant JPG) linked from the write-up is written entirely in Flash... There are not ringing bells and no blowing wistles — their web-master, apparently, knows only the single tool (hammer), and everything looks like a nail to him/her... Eeewwww..

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Oh shut the fuck up. NIN wants a look to their site that can't be accomplished with straight HTML (e.g., exotic font, positioning, shading.) In short, the band wishes to create a certain mood, tone and functionality that's impractical without the use of Flash. What would you suggest they use?

      Flash is available - free of charge - for 99% of desktops. This isn't some annoying banner ad or obnoxious webapp or anything like that. This is an artist using Flash on the web in a fairly tasteful context. "But, bu

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ilgaz ( 86384 ) *
      It is a mainstream rock band for God's sake, what next? Didn't appear nice on your Lynx?

      As far as I know, Garage Band is not GNU either.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mi ( 197448 )

        It is a mainstream rock band for God's sake, what next?

        "Mainstream" rock bands don't usually release their songs for free. This one did, for whatever reasons, one of the reasons — by popular opinion, at least — being "to show our openness and appreciation for the fans". Well, this fan is offended, rather than pleased...

        Didn't appear nice on your Lynx?

        It did not appear nice in my Firefox-2.0.0.3. A 64-bit version... My primary objection was not even to their use of Flash per se, but to the gr

  • One thing I'm not clear on: if I put the songs on a USB keychain, will the RIAA sue [slashdot.org] me?

  • Under what license(s) did Reznor/NIN release the sources? Who's to say the record company/IP rights holder won't come after you if you redistribute or even sell remixes?

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