Trent Reznor to release free software?

Found this from a recent article (via theninhotline.net) in the New York Times:

To release “Ghosts I-IV” and “The Slip” online Mr. Reznor found he needed software to distribute digital files, assemble databases and connect easily with other applications. That too will soon be available free. “We’ve spent the money to make it,” Mr. Reznor said. “Take it.”

Does that mean it’s going to be released under a free software license? You don’t really need any special software to make music downloadable, but NIN.com seems to have more sophisticated ways of tracking downloads and gathering statistics, and offering tiered pricing models (for Ghosts).

Sounds like something to watch out for. I’ll certainly be keeping my ear to the ground (err… screen?).

Also, happy to read in the interview that he’s reconsidered his view that the Saul Williams album giveaway was a failure.

The numbers of the people that paid for that record, versus the people that paid for his last record, were greater. He made infinitely more money from that record than he did from his other one. It increased his name value probably tenfold. At the end of the day, counting free downloads, it was probably five or six or seven times higher than the amount sold on his last record. I don’t know how you could look at that as a failure.