then we were niggy's band

October 29, 2007 8:58 AM

Saul Williams releases his album with several payment options: $0.00 gets you 192k mp3s, and 5 bucks buys your choice of 192k or 300k mp3s, or FLAC. All DRM free of course. Trent Reznor, who was recently sighted complaining about the insane prices for his last album in new zealand, is to blame. Need a taster? Saul and Trent have leaked a track on pirate bay.
posted by fleetmouse (17 comments total)

In the future when everything is locked down with awesome, ultra-secure DRM, we'll look back on this folly and chuckle.
posted by mullingitover at 9:10 AM on October 29, 2007

Saul on Youtube
posted by fleetmouse at 9:11 AM on October 29, 2007

Good to see new Saul out there
posted by Rubbstone at 9:18 AM on October 29, 2007

I love everything about this idea but I found the tracks kinda generic. Still, more power to 'em for this strategy and here's hoping other people like 'em more than I do!
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 9:28 AM on October 29, 2007

FYI for folks new to piratebay, possible NSFW ads on the last link.
posted by mrzarquon at 9:32 AM on October 29, 2007

Oh jeez, sorry about the NSFW ads. I have adblock plus and don't ever see 'em.

lupus: yeah, it's maybe not my favorite genre of music but I preordered and will give it a chance because Saul's words are usually fantastic. Plus I desperately want this model to succeed. 5 bucks for an album in Flac is what I've been dreaming of. I'd go back to buying four or five albums a month if it became standard.
posted by fleetmouse at 9:47 AM on October 29, 2007 [1 favorite]

Not even my style of music, but I'd pitch in $5 for it.
posted by drstein at 9:51 AM on October 29, 2007

I like Trent's NiN stuff. I like HipHop. I don't really like what I've heard of from this combination. Saul's more like a beat poet than rapper with lyrics from a junior high emo kid's notebook.

Great business ideas need to mesh with music that I like.
posted by C.Batt at 9:58 AM on October 29, 2007

Better YouTube links for Saul Williams:
Saul Williams - "Coded Language" (Live @ University of Colorado in Boulder)
Saul Williams - "List Of Demands" (Original Music Video)
Saul Williams & Nine Inch Nails - "List Of Demands" (Live Voodoo Festival 2005)
Saul Williams - "The Pledge Of Resistance (Not In Our Name)"
posted by grabbingsand at 10:17 AM on October 29, 2007 [2 favorites]

Saul's more like a beat poet than rapper with lyrics from a junior high emo kid's notebook.

So Niggy doesn't play guitar?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:03 AM on October 29, 2007

Heh. I mentioned this in the Radiohead thread, but no one else came…
posted by klangklangston at 11:09 AM on October 29, 2007

Actually Trent complained about insane prices for his Album in Australia, the article is on stuff, a NZ media site, but in fact the article is from the SMH.

But doing a search you can only get the last 8 days for free on the SMH site, so I guess that is why we have a link to stuff. That is fucking lame from the SMH, and ironic considering the current thread about DRM free music.

Fairfax has missed out on page views and ad revenue from this thread as a result of short sighted revenue models.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 1:24 PM on October 29, 2007

I have this horrible horrible feeling that this album is going to get overlooked by too many people, it's destined to be one of the greatest crossover albums in music history. I hope everyone gives it a go at least once, especially considering you can have it for such a low price, or even free.
posted by saturnine at 4:36 PM on October 29, 2007

Saul Goodman
posted by Flashman at 5:27 PM on October 29, 2007

I pounced on this the instant I got the email from the Saul Williams mailing list. Paid my five bucks with joy in my heart. Got the NIN email announcing the same project a few hours later.

I also desperately want this model to succeed. Plus I think this is one of the greatest team-ups in recording history. I'm a huge NIN fan; have been for years. I'm not a fan of hip hop, but Saul Williams? The man is incredible.
posted by perilous at 8:25 PM on October 29, 2007

Interview with Trent and Saul here. It turns out Trent was an Oink user:

I'll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world's greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted. If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn't the equivalent of that in the retail space right now. iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don't feel cool when I go there. I'm tired of seeing John Mayer's face pop up. I feel like I'm being hustled when I visit there, and I don't think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc. Amazon has potential, but none of them get around the issue of pre-release leaks. And that's what's such a difficult puzzle at the moment. If your favorite band in the world has a leaked record out, do you listen to it or do you not listen to it? People on those boards, they're grateful for the person that uploaded it — they're the hero. They're not stealing it because they're going to make money off of it; they're stealing it because they love the band. I'm not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want.

posted by fleetmouse at 8:36 PM on October 30, 2007

This is turning out to be one fuck of a good album. I wasn't expecting it to be this good.
posted by fleetmouse at 11:45 AM on November 4, 2007