What will be more interesting is how he will distribute material following this tour. His contract with UMG is up, and I doubt he'll resign after this little escapade. I would bet that he's already got something up his sleeve to be so cavalier.

I was thinking the same thing. He clearly has some kind of plan...

I think it can safely be assumed that the vast majority of his money is coming from doing shows, and public performance royalties from radio, rather than record sales. His tracks are traded online like mad, and record sales are (pun intended) universally down. I think he might just get ballzy and ditch record sales as a revenue stream, focus completely on live performance and radio, and rely on marketing efforts like the ARG to promote himself.

The resulting royalties from radio become significant at the point were you get the rotation he does. If he can maintain that level of play, he doesn't lose the promotional effect from it or the revenue stream, which can exceed seven figures over the life of a big single. Live performance is always the biggest revenue stream...

Reznor has a very loyal core group of fans, so he can pull off things that are not options to most artists, and get massive "groundbreaker" points along the way..

RE: Slashdot | Trent Reznor Says 'Steal My Music'