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Giving away your product for free and charging $300 for it at the same time might not sound like a great business plan, but it is one strategy that is seeing a lot of success with musical artists.

Alternative rock band Nine Inch Nails (NIN) circumvented the usual middle-man with the release of their latest album, the four-volume “Ghosts”, on their Web site earlier this week. The marketing gambit appears successful at this point, and businesses might want to take note of NIN front-man Trent Reznor's use of the Internet.

“It shows some marketing creativity and it also shows we've turned a corner in terms of using new Web channels for selling products and services,” says Tony Olvet, vice president communications and segments with Toronto-based IDC Canada Inc.

Other analysts agree the Internet doesn't hamper traditional business models, but actually complements them.

“One of the key messages is to try something unique and embrace the technology that is available,” says Michelle Warren, senior research analyst with London, Ont.-based Info-Tech Research Group.

NIN is using a free sample approach by uploading the first volume of the new album to file-sharing torrent Web sites like The Pirate Bay. Band representatives created official accounts on sites normally lambasted by the music industry to give away the tracks.

Despite the free offerings, early indications show that fans clamoured for the most expensive option of a US$300 ultra-deluxe box set. Containing a blu-ray disc and two high-quality books, 2,500 sets were sold out yesterday morning.

That's US$750,000 revenue in less than two days on those sales alone.

Most businessmen probably aren't fond of the band's trademark loud, industrial sound. But sales like that are music their ears.

Thriftier fans could also opt to spend $5 to download all four volumes in a high-quality digital format. For $10, the music came on an old-fashioned CD too. For $75, there was a less opulent box set available.

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