In recent times, there has been a trend surfacing and being introduced into the music industry, which is in fact a long held principal of all hackers. This new concept which musicians are adopting, is of course, “Information Is Free”. Information can be interpreted as many things, but in this specific situation, it’s the music composed by the artist - so in other words, free music. This is a smart move on their part, since music, as we all know, is always leaked to the public illegally through torrent websites, P2P networks, and other quite delicious ways.

Instead of preventing illegal distribution from happening, musicians are encouraging it and joining in on the fun. The reason? Well, you simply can’t beat free publicity, especially if it’s incredibly effective. Word of mouth, recommendations, and making your content easily accessible to the masses is the way of the future for the music industry. The results? Surprisingly impactful considering alternative marketing efforts, and even sometimes overwhelming.

For example, the band Nine Inch Nails (NIN) has recently released their new album ‘The Slip‘ as a free downloadable packaged file on their website. All you have to do is enter your email address, and shortly after you’ll receive a link to the download (free of charge and with no strings attached). This shows great appreciation for their fans, and it encourages them to spread the word, out of shear appreciation for receiving the full album for free.

Consider what I’ve done, I already told many of my close friends about it, posted it on several places, and I’m writing about it on my blog! That’s how much I appreciate the gesture, and I’m only one person out of many others that have downloaded the album. BTW, they will also be making the album available in CD and Vinyl formats for those that want a hardcopy, although that will not be likely and understandably free.

There are many other bands that are following in the same footsteps, although they only provide you with one or two songs for free - but hey, it’s something. For sure we will be seeing more of this adaptation taking full effect fairly recent, as the musicians take notice of the incredible results it produces. The music world will change, bringing new ways of how things are done for the artists involved.