Taking a page from Radiohead's choose-your-own-price release of In Rainbows, Trent Reznor is following suit. Reznor produced the new release from Saul Williams, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust. The album hasn't caught the press and fanfare of Radiohead's endeavor, but marks another page in the book that is the current rebellion against the indentured servitude of oppressive labels.

The difference between Williams and Radiohead is that Saul has nowhere near the name recognition of Radiohead. While recent market surveys have shown only a minority of fans paid for In Rainbows, Williams and Reznor maintain faith in the masses, and give the option of paying $5 for the album (and receiving 192kbs or 360kbs MP3 or FLAC lossless audio) or downloading for free (192kbs MP3 only). All versions come with PDF art and are DRM-free. (n.b.: As a testament to my faith in the format, I did pay the $5 for the album after getting my listen to the promo tracks.)

Rather than leave it to the fans to name a price, there are two choices. Radiohead can live without sales on the album, but Williams can certainly use the support. If fans want music to be available cheap yet high-quality and without the restrictions on creative freedom of a major conract, it is up to us to support the artists who are pioneering these new strategies of releasing music.

Niggy Tardust is genre-breaking stuff.  With clear influence from Public Enemy on the album (patently obvious on "Tr(n)igger", both Williams' flow and the samples), Williams and Reznor are blowing minds without blowing wallets on this one. The cover of U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is, without question, blessed by Reznor's vision, with tight industrial-electric melody. Like the PE collaboration with Anthrax, the track blends forward-thinking hip hop with the progressive sound of modern hard rock. Niggy Tardust opens up with "Black History Month", a dirty bomb of quaking bass and KRS-One fist-pumping chants. "Scared Money" is introduced with a reggae beat, and the lyrics are a spoken-word assault on the lack of substance or a real message in new music. Expect to be reminded of George Clinton, Andre 3000, and The Clash.