via Question Marc

Thanks to Andre for turning me on to this.

“Hello from Nine Inch Nails.

“We’re very proud to present a new collection of instrumental music, Ghosts I-IV. Almost two hours of music recorded over an intense ten week period last fall, Ghosts I-IV sprawls Nine Inch Nails across a variety of new terrain.

“Now that we’re no longer constrained by a record label, we’ve decided to personally upload Ghosts I, the first of the four volumes, to various torrent sites, because we believe BitTorrent is a revolutionary digital distribution method, and we believe in finding ways to utilize new technologies instead of fighting them.”

Get the full skinny here.

Been slammed the last three days, but lots of cool stuff is happening. Normal blogging will resume shortly. In the meantime, check out this podcast I did for the Principled Innovation blog, and check out this great review on Bloomberg by Jamie Pressly.

2008 is already looking like a year in which the debate over pirates of all kinds will get even louder:

After resigning as Def Jam Recordings president, Jay-Z maybe about to “pull a Madonna” and compete with piracy by embracing a different business model.

The debate over piracy and IP protections between the West and China will likely be affected by the news that China’s economy is 40% smaller than previously estimated.

The luxury goods business will go on the offensive in a major way as pirates continue to threaten profits.

The wonders of the world will take their first step towards unworkable DRM encryption as Egypt seeks royalties for sphinx knock-offs.

Microsoft will get softer on piracy, worried by the fact that people aren’t even bothering to pirate Vista.

Comic book fans brandished as pirates may find they need another hero.

Like terrorism, piracy will be used as an excuse to stifle free speech but piracy will also continue to be used as a potent form of civil disobedience.

Big media will continue to turn to the government for help with the losing battle that is and always has been the “war on piracy.”

If information really is the “oil of the 21st Century”, then some think next year could be the start of the first all-out war against pirates (and that the pirates will win). Good times!

And of course, the book is out in eight days.

Happy New Year!

w00t!