Nine Inch Nails Goes Deep with Marketing Campaign

Trent Reznor could have just given a few interviews to explain Nine Inch Nails' new album, "Year Zero." But instead, he's using a multifaceted Internet scavenger hunt, and in some cases, his own rabid fans, to help gradually build the story of the project.

Dystopian, apocalyptic themes are pervasive on the album, due in stores April 17, echoing topics the group has explored since 1989's classic "Pretty Hate Machine."

Neither Reznor, his management nor representatives at his Interscope label would speak to Billboard about the campaign, which has encompassed everything from cryptic phrases on T-shirts to Orwellian Web sites to MP3s found on USB drives in bathrooms at NIN concerts. But a source with knowledge of the project says Reznor may very well perceive it all not as a marketing campaign, but as "a new entertainment form."

Indeed, the source says the campaign forms the body of the "Year Zero" experience: "It is the CD booklet come to life. It precedes the concept album and the tour. And it will continue for the next 18 months, with peaks and valleys."

The source continues, "No one has assembled the full story yet. The new media is creating the story as it goes."

"Year Zero" came to life in early February when Web-savvy fans discovered that highlighted letters inside words on a NIN tour T-shirt spelled out "I am trying to believe." Savvy fans added a ".com" to the five words and, voila, located a thought-provoking, eerie Web site. Other associated sites created by 42 Entertainment were soon discovered, including http://www.bethehammer.net, http://www.anotherversionofthetruth.com and http://www.churchofplano.com, where a dark future reigns supreme.

For instance, errant clicks on sites like anotherversionofthetruth.com result in interception by the Bureau of Morality, which will then e-mail warnings that the user is "A CONSUMER OF DISSIDENT MATERIAL . . . Any further attempts to view, consume, or distribute un-american (sic) content will result in the loss of citizenship increments and/or the imposition of fines, penalties, or imprisonment. You have choices. Make the RIGHT ones."

For further instructions on making good choices, the creepy note instructs the e-mail recipient to visit http://www.thepriceoftreason.net. And another mind game begins anew, with its own set of rabbit holes.