January 04, 2008

By By Cortney Harding, N.Y.

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has posted the download and sales numbers for "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust" the Saul Williams album he produced and helped release.

The album was originally posted on November 1, 2007, and offered for free as a lower quality, 192kbps MP3 download, or $5 for a higher fidelity 320kbps MP3 or FLAC version. Reznor contends in his blog post that "not one cent was spent on marketing this record," although he and Williams did launch a fairly comprehensive press campaign.

According to Reznor, since November first, 154,449 people had downloaded the record; of those, 28,322, or 18.3%, chose to pay. Of those paying, 3220 chose 192kbps MP3, 19,764 chose 320kbps MP3, and 5338 chose FLAC.

Reznor goes on to state that he is conflicted about the numbers; while he was disheartened that so few chose to pay, he is also excited that more people are hearing Williams's music.

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