Trent Reznor's been a busy goth. Two months ago the Nine Inch Nails svengali suddenly announced the release of new record Ghosts I - IV. A sprawling 36-track instrumental epic, it came in a variety of different "user defined" formats. These ranged from a low-quality download, to a deluxe, hardcover fabric slipcase, complete with CD, remix DVD, photographs, 180-gram x 4 Vinyl and booklet.

Now out of the blue comes a copy-cat deal for the new NIN "pop" album. Named The Slip, Reznor seems to be similarly attempting to manoeuvre around what he sees as a dinosaur industry. Traditionally, an album has a bare minimum 6 week lead-in for promotion and distribution. Posters in windows, teaser trailers, embroidered underpants and the chance to win entry to an exclusive listening party care of your favourite alcopop of choice. No longer. The album was announced around 6pm last night Australian time and - click - I'm listening to it right now. An album that perhaps had it filtered through the traditional channels would've been tired and uninteresting by the time it arrived on the pile next to the stereo. Not to mention months away. Instead, it's humming in millions of curious ears.

Says the official album download site:

"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.

the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options - all free. all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.

for those of you interested in physical products, fear not. we plan to make a version of this release available on CD and vinyl in july. details coming soon.

we encourage you to remix it. share it with your friends, post it on your blog, play it on your podcast, give it to strangers, etc."

Something to think about for the Australian Record Industry.