Reznor vs. Radiohead: Innovation Smackdown

Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have been taking turns giving the music industry the finger. The British band made headlines last October for releasing In Rainbows without the support (read: control) of a record label, and Trent Reznor's group followed suit with last month's Ghosts I-IV.

The two bands have also been busy one-upping each other with their innovative promotion strategies. We were tempted to let the groups coexist peacefully at the forward edge of digital distribution until Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor accused Radiohead of betraying fans by selling them low-quality files. In light of Reznor's accusations, we put together a 10-round, voting-enabled smackdown to find out which band is really blazing the trail of innovation.

Click on the head next to the best argument in each round.

Round 1: History of innovation VOTE Radiohead: Released all of Kid A as a free iBlip stream in 2000. 1368 Reznor: For the 2007 Nine Inch Nails album Year Zero, Reznor used private torrent sites to distribute videos, raw song materials and resulting remixes. Free USB drives containing unreleased songs from Year Zero were hidden in the bathrooms of concert venues. 5541

Round 2: Timing VOTE Radiohead: Radiohead made waves first, turning the music biz on its ear with the Oct. 10, 2007, In Rainbows release. 4874 Reznor: Though Reznor had apparently been contemplating ditching his label for years, Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV came second, causing reporters to describe the no-label release as Radiohead-style. 1885

Round 3: Digital formats VOTE Radiohead: Pricing optional; DRM-free 160 Kbps MP3 1554 Reznor: $5 for better-sounding 320 Kbps MP3, FLAC lossless or Apple Lossless (all DRM-free). First eight songs are free. 5269

Round 4: Substance VOTE Radiohead: In Rainbows is a real Radiohead album with 10 (college) radio-ready songs that many labels would have been proud to put their stamp on. 3676 Reznor: Reznor's sprawling, 36-song instrumental opus is either a brilliant explosion of the traditional album format or an example of poor self-editing. 3048

Round 5: Breaking with the industry VOTE Radiohead: Radiohead left its longtime label EMI but used traditional distributors to place CDs in retail outlets. 1378 Reznor: Nine Inch Nails left Interscope/Universal Music Group and blew off traditional retailers, distributing the CD version of Ghosts I-IV only through the band's website. 5304

Round 6: Punk-rock factor VOTE Radiohead: Refused to sell individual songs in iTunes Store. 799 Reznor: Advised Australian fans to steal his music after Universal priced it at AU$30. Praised Oink file sharing network. 5932

Round 7: Remixing policy VOTE Radiohead: The band's publisher initially tried to prevent Amplive's In Rainbows remixes from released. 463 Reznor: One of the reasons Reznor hated being signed to a label was that Universal wouldn't let his fans remix his songs. Now that he's on his own, Nine Inch Nails' remix policy involves making raw materials available for use with Pro Tools or other audio programs. Bonus points if Reznor releases fan remixes on BitTorrent like last time. 6050

Round 8: Fan-made music videos VOTE Radiohead: Announced a contest March 17 in which fans can submit concepts for music videos via video or storyboard. Ten fan filmmakers will get $1,000 budgets; one will get a $10,000 budget. 3806 Reznor: Three days earlier, Reznor called for fans to upload music videos for a special section on YouTube. 2688

Round 9: Smack talk VOTE Radiohead: If Radiohead has said anything derogatory about Nine Inch Nails, we haven't heard anything about it. 2821 Reznor: Called Radiohead's strategy an insincere "bait and switch" move due to lower sound quality of the digital-only release of In Rainbows. 3727

Round 10: Initial revenue VOTE Radiohead: The band made an estimated $2.4 million to $10 million in the first three days after In Rainbows' release. (Note: Official sales numbers have not been released, nor has this estimate been confirmed). 3212 Reznor: Ghosts I-IV raked in $1.6 million in its first week alone, according to the band. 3353

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