I’m typically not one for viral hype or online buzz supporting new movies, games, etc. And I’m certainly not one for “Alternate Reality Games.” But Nine Inch Nails is doing some pretty cool, pretty extensive buzz/guerilla/web work for Year Zero, the band’s upcoming concept album.
For a nice overview, check out the Year Zero entry in Wikipedia. There are the usual fake web sites, but also fresh ideas like planting USB drives in bathroom stalls at NIN concerts and hiding codes and phone numbers on tour merchandise. In a supercool move, some of the MP3s contain static, which reveals images and phone numbers when run through spectrogram software.
Even if you don’t think this is interesting, be sure to check out the new (not entirely safe for work) video: crappy YouTube -or- beautiful 37.5 MB QT.
