Nine Inch Nails’s Ghosts I-IV earned 1.6 million in it’s first week.

Trent Reznor reported that the earnings came from 781,917 downloads - including both the free and paid transactions. If Trent had went the traditional route of distributing this album through a record label the album would have cost fans closer to $15 each, while he would have earned less than $1.00 on each unit sold. Here’s a comparison:

Through A Record Company
$15.00 album X 10% in artist royalties = $1.00 per unit sold

Self distribution
$5.00 album X 100% in artist royalties = $5.00 per unit sold

In this case, the self distribution model is better for the fans and the musicians - it only leaves out the labels. It’s uncertain whether Reznor is a music industry anarchist or just a clever entrepreneur, but what is clear is that he is no longer collecting paychecks. Reznor owns a business and not a job.