Wired Magazine has posted an article (Nine Inch Nails Album Generates 1.6 Million in First Week).  The title really covers the basis of the content.  What is interesting is that Trent Reznor is making his numbers widely available.  It took 800,000 transactions (including free downloads) to generate 1.6 million dollars in revenue.

We know that almost half of that came from the $750,000 from the sale of 2500 ultimate limited edition packages that sold for $300 each.  But still 1.6 million dollars is not something scoff at when you consider that this was an almost completely digital distribution of DRM-Free MP3 or lossless files.  There were also purchasable CDs but they all came with a download code for immediate download of the digital files.

One part I found interesting was the fact that Reznor paid only $38 to have the album distributed via Amazon’s Mp3 Store.  That’s an awesome price to have 36 songs distributed through one of the most popular Mp3 download stores.

Now, here is what I am wondering.  What is the breakdown of downloads from the NiN.com website versus Amazon.  Also of the purchased done via NiN.com, what is the breakdown of purchases by format (Mp3, FLAC, & Apple Lossless).  That is what I would like to see.  Also, how many people just purchased a digital download versus how many people purchased an actual CD set?  Mr. Reznor, can we get those numbers please?  I’m really curious.  Either way, the fact that the man is releasing numbers rather than hiding them is to be commended.