Nine Inch Nails and Viral Marketing

By: Kendall | in: General, Music, Technology |

In most calendars there is no year 0. In today’s modern calendars there is 1 BC, and 1 AD. The Year Zero is coming on April 17th, and is the title of the new album from Nine Inch Nails. Nine Inch Nails fans have anxiously been waiting for this album, and have found themselves in the midst of a perplexing and ongoing treasure hunt to find material and clues that relate to the album. Some have even found themselves being pressured by the RIAA of it all.

Many people have called Trent Reznor a genius. If he hasn’t proved it through his music, his new viral advertising campaign may have just sealed the deal. Like many bands, he released the single first single “Survivalsim” on myspace before its release date of March 6th as the single. That’s nothing out of the ordinary. The rabbit hole actually begins with a tour t-shirt. After examining it more closely fans figured out that highlighted letters from the shirt actually spelled out the phrase “I am trying to believe”. Which, as it turns out, is a website. The site warns of the fictional drug parepin, and the speculation towards the idea of it being added to water supplies in order to protect citizens in the case of a dirty bomb or biological warfare. It also has an image that appears to be God’s hand coming down to pair with a lyric from the song “The Wretched” that goes like this:

“The clouds will part and the sky cracks open and god himself will reach his fucking arm through, just to push you down, just to hold you down”

believe

Another site that seems to be linked is called Another Version of the Truth. It appears to be a government-esque image that should make you feel proud and safe and all American! I moved my mouse around without finding a place to click, and finally after getting frustrated I started clicking, and pixels started to disappear. The image underneath left me a little more than perplexed. More websites seem to be a part of this all. Be sure to check out Be the Hammer , 105 Airborne Crusaders ,Church of Plano and Consolidated Systems.
Sites are just the start. Listening parties for the album are being held in various cities where fans can actually get together to take it all in. Buttons have been handed out at these parties. On the NIN hotline states the following about the buttons:

If you attended one of the US listening parties, you might have received a button like those shown here. What you might be unaware of is that those buttons play a vital role in the unfolding of the Year Zero puzzle and have lead to a number of discoveries in the game. It’s becoming apparent that some of the buttons containing these clues might have been overlooked. You might even be wearing one now. Take a look and see if you can help out.

NIN Buttons

To top it all off flash drives are being found with songs in different cities around the world, and fans are putting the songs out on the internet. To feed the Frenzy, the RIAA has decided to start pressuring individuals with these songs with lawsuits. The NIN hotline is rocking, and reporting in some cases almost hourly about discoveries that are being made. They even made this report about the RIAA incident:
There’s a news story on Blabbermouth reporting that everyone’s favourite watchdog group - the RIAA - is pursuing legal action against websites that have hosted the USB-leaked songs from Year Zero. Cease and Desist orders for everyone! Thanks to Juan and sleepy for the heads up.
The tracks were leaked INTENTIONALLY! But this isn’t going to turn into an anti-RIAA rant. In fact, some multi-track versions of some of the songs are even posted on the official NIN website for free download in garage band format for fans to remix!
There is much much more going on then what has been named in this brief article, but for a fan this is the ultimate treasure hunt. The thought that has gone into this marketing is bar far the most intriguing and world spanning that the industry has ever seen. I give my highest regard to 42 spectrum who supposedly has helped put this together. Every fan wants to discover music. Every fan wants to be a PART of the music. Through this amazing media, fans can FIND the music, and it’s a race to discover each amazing step.

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Posted on April 4, 2007

Comments

14 Responses to “Nine Inch Nails and Viral Marketing”

Zenny on April 4th, 2007 12:15 pm

gave your NIN article a linkback from a similar post I made on this. No charge here’s the link: http://blogtopicz.com/item/2007/04/nine-inch-nails-launch–mysterious–web-campaign

links for 2007-04-04 at Baron VC on April 4th, 2007 1:23 pm

[…] Nine Inch Nails and Viral Marketing You gotta love the RIAA for suing people who picked up music leaked by the artists themselves. (tags: music) Powered by Gregarious (21) […]

Kendall on April 4th, 2007 1:28 pm

Thanks Zenny And Baron!

Anonymous on April 4th, 2007 5:13 pm

4ourty2wo is doing more work than trent reznor is considering this is their job and thats what he hired them to do.

Kendall on April 4th, 2007 5:27 pm

They are doing something amazing, and may well change the landscape of ad campaigns for the future. Their work on Halo 2 was also great.

mozzer on April 4th, 2007 8:41 pm

Great summary of the goings on with Trent and company.

btw, you can now listen to the ENTIRE Year Zero album at http://yearzero.nin.com/. So far, my favorite non-leaked tracks are Vessel, The Warning, and The Great Destroyer.

NIN doesn’t disappoint with this release!

Rusty on April 19th, 2007 5:18 am

This just in:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7879970@N06/463078490/

How Nine Inch Nails is Adapting to a New Music Industry on May 2nd, 2007 11:37 pm

[…] The massive marketing project for Nine Inch Nails’ new album, Year Zero has gotten alot of attention. And well it should. The marketing company, 42 Entertainment has created a huge puzzle—a treasure hunt of sorts—for fans to solve. The puzzle involves T-shirts with hidden messages, a number of thought-provoking websites, and carefully planted USB drives containing leaked tracks, clues, and images. […]

Do you have a marketing virus? | Woody Maxim on June 14th, 2007 6:25 am

[…] http://www.theplugg.com/2007/04/04/nin-and-viral-marketing/ […]

New Radiohead Album: Pay What You Want « Ryan is Ossum on October 8th, 2007 8:42 pm

[…] Apparently they are no longer under contract with a record company, which means the RIAA can’t receive their cut from the purchased songs. Rebellion from the RIAA is a common act lately, as bands like Nine Inch Nails, who has just recently fulfilled their contract with Interscope Records, have taken clever measures to distribute their music to the public without the influence or interference of the RIAA. […]

The Pace | The YDA Blog » I didn’t mean to say it was “By the Power of Greyskull!” on July 23rd, 2008 3:02 pm

[…] “real world” gets this (just look at the way musicians and movie studios get young people who are now wiser and savvier than when they were little kids […]

Andrew on August 4th, 2008 12:22 pm

I cant wait to see Trent at voodoo in New Orleans. its always great to see people play their home towns. NIN always puts on a great show, but its a completely different level when its in New Orleans. Check out these videos of past NIN voodoo performances. http://www.thetenthritual.com/?content=video

» I am… retarded? | Pagespank.com - web 0.0 on August 18th, 2008 2:23 pm

[…] some kind of mystique around the campaign. Take some pointers from Nine Inch Nails, who did a great online treasure-hunt style campaign last […]

I am a shade of invisible Orange – Ad Bitch on September 6th, 2008 4:34 am

[…] some kind of mystique around the campaign. Take some pointers from Nine Inch Nails, who did a great online treasure-hunt style campaign last […]