When I happily discovered that he would be taking on composing duties, I suspected Trent Reznor, who has made it his modus operandi to give most of his music away, might find some way of making his score for David Fincher’s The Social Network (which Devin LOVED) cheaper or easier to obtain than usual. What I didn’t figure though, was that he’d be able to give a chunk of it away for free, and that the whole thing would be $3, at least for a short time. There are caveats, but it’s a great deal made possible by an unusual arrangement, that Reznor tweeted about recently.

“The
soundtrack for The Social Network will be self-released through The
Null Corporation in partnership with SONY’s Madison Gate Records.”


Here are the details…

The Social Network soundtrack will be released digitally on Tuesday September 28th with physical formats to follow in October. You can pre-order standard CD, Blu-ray (audio only 5.1 surround and high resolution stereo) and 2 disc 180g vinyl formats now. All preorders include an instant 5 song sampler download and a full digital album delivered by email on 9/28. Standalone digital will be available for purchase EXCLUSIVELY on Amazon.com at a promotional rate of $2.99 for a 48 hour period starting 12:01am on 9/28. Digital purchases will begin here 9/30 at 12:01am.

The tracks are formatted in MP3HD which is an awesome little lossless format that bit-for-bit replicates the CD tracks, while being backwards compatible with the .mp3 extension.

The pre-sale site also includes a short note from Reznor that summarizes the intentions behind the music, as well as an apology that the release isn’t as intuitive as his fan might be used to.

This is what Atticus and I have been working on for the last few months. We had a great time working with David Fincher on this and the film turned out excellent – something we’re very proud of. It opens in theatres Oct 1 and you should check it out.

Musically, this all came out of our secret laboratory – electronic in basis, but mostly organic sounding. Lots of experiments and emphasis on sound fraying around the edges while focusing on the proper emotional tone for the various scenes.

Regarding the purchase options, sorry about the “clunkiness” of not offering the full record digital download pre-sale (and having to visit Amazon). My agenda was to be able to offer this for the lowest possible price and this was the best way to achieve that. Amazon has been a great partner with past projects and I appreciate your understanding.

– Trent Reznor, 9.16.10

I’m only a few minutes into the soundtrack and it already feels like a wonderful sonic bedrock for a great film. Can’t wait to hear it in context.

Go nab your free songs and watch out for that $3 download on the 28th and 29th!

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