Nine Inch Nails (NIN) is trying a new
strategy for getting listeners to part with the money to download songs from their new album collection,
Ghosts I-IV. It's basically a tiered system where you get a little for free, a little more for a little more, on your way up to the super-deluxe package for $300, which will include an autograph from NIN lead, Trent Reznor.
This continues the trial-and-error process in the music industry as they try to figure out how to make money now that CD sales are tanking. (The article references Radiohead, for instance.) But I think the most important part of the
NY Times article is the quote from Reznor: "I'm not content with just a singular experience." Listeners aren't either. Making music more than an audio or music video experience is what will entice people to part with their dollars.