Release
Trent Reznor posted on the official Nine Inch Nails website on April 21 a message saying "2 weeks!" Reznor employed a similar tactic to tease the release of the band's previous album (Ghosts I–IV) earlier the same year. The following day, Reznor released the single, "Discipline", by email to radio stations and as a free download on the official Nine Inch Nails site. The song failed to conquer the pole position of the Billboard Alternative Songs chart as expected, and charted below the Top 5. Another song, "Echoplex", was released as a free download from iLike later. The ID3 tags of these MP3 files also pointed to the date May 5, just as Reznor's post had. On May 5, a free direct download link to the album in MP3 format was posted on the official Nine Inch Nails website, with a message from Reznor that said: "Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me." The digital download is available in a variety of DRM-free audio, in both CD standard and higher resolution formats. The lyrics for each track are embedded using ID3 tags, for viewing in supported media players.
Like the previous Nine Inch Nails studio album Ghosts I–IV, The Slip was released under a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial share-alike license, in effect allowing anyone to use or rework the material for any non-profit purpose, as long as credit is provided and the resulting work is released under a similar license. The website further expands this by saying "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." As with Ghosts I–IV and Year Zero, multi-track audio source files of the album were also made available at the official Nine Inch Nails remix site. Reznor also plans on giving away the online software and digital infrastructure through which both The Slip and Ghosts were released.
The Slip was released on CD in the United States and Canada on July 22; unlike the digital release, however, the physical version of the album was not free. The physical package was released as a six-panel digipack which contained the album itself, a 24-page booklet, a sticker pack, and a DVD with live rehearsals of "1,000,000", "Letting You", "Discipline", "Echoplex", and "Head Down". Three of these videos were featured on Pitchfork Media prior to the CD/DVD release. The physical release of the album was limited to 250,000 numbered units worldwide and as of December 2011 is still available. An unlimited 180-gram gatefold vinyl was released in the US and Canada on August 12, and in the United Kingdom August 18.
Read more about this topic: The Slip (album)
Famous quotes containing the word release:
“If I were to be taken hostage, I would not plead for release nor would I want my government to be blackmailed. I think certain government officials, industrialists and celebrated persons should make it clear they are prepared to be sacrificed if taken hostage. If that were done, what gain would there be for terrorists in taking hostages?”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“The steel decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
great recoil,
And the sea grows red with the blood of the dead and reaches for his spoil—
But not till the foe has gone below or turns his prow and runs,
Shall the voice of peace bring sweet release to the men behind the
guns!”
—John Jerome Rooney (1866–1934)
“The near touch of death may be a release into life; if only it will break the egoistic will, and release that other flow.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)