http://www.spinner.com/2007/04/04/trent ... ase-dates/

Trent Reznor Doesn't Care About Release Dates
Posted Apr 4th 2007 6:25PM by Melissa Olund

Trent Reznor's kiss-off to the record biz and the RIAA continues, as the Nine Inch Nails mastermind just went ahead and put his whole damn 'Year Zero' album online, nearly two weeks ahead of its April 17 release date. Listen to it here.

If you aren't up to speed on the whole 'Year Zero' saga, it began when fans decoded a hidden website address on concert t-shirts and started finding tracks from the album on USB drives left in concert hall bathroom stalls. Clues in the drives added up to an alternate reality game (think 'Lost') that has had NIN fans in a feeding frenzy on message boards for weeks.

At one point, the RIAA flexed its muscles, threatening sites that posted the tracks, prompting a label rep to politely tell Billboard, "These f****** idiots are going after a campaign that the label signed off on."

such a great marketing idea.

The jumpdrives with songs has been the talk of every site I visit and I've read the preorders for the album are some of the highest for any album release before.

Got my advance last week, it's a pretty good album and a huge step forward from With Teeth.