Over the weekend, Trent Reznor -- the brains behind Nine Inch Nails -- released his latest creation, Ghosts I-IV, over the internet. The first nine songs of the 36-song album (nearly 150 minutes in length) are available for free, and there are a number of other options for those willing to pay for the latest from the Pretty Hate Machine artist. For $5, for example, you can download the full album, which comes with a 40-page PDF and "digital extras."

There are other purchase options as well, the highest-tier of which is a $300 "Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition Package," which includes: high-quality downloads, two CDs, a data DVD, a Blu-ray high-definition DVD, and assorted extras. And? It's signed by Mr. Reznor himself. Available to the first 2,500 buyers only, the $300 package sold out in two days. This represents a gross of three quarters of a million dollars in just 48 hours, and that doesn't even account for the other, more affordable packages that fans have likely snatched up.

This was Reznor's second foray into the cyber-release of his music. Last November 1, he posted a collaboration album with Saul Williams for free on the Internet. Those desiring a higher-quality format could donate $5.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

With the news this morning that Madonna is potentially leaving Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) for tour promoter Live Nation (NYSE: LYV), the future of the record industry is again being questioned. In the wake of English band Radiohead's self-release online of its seventh album, any move away from the record industry is demanding notice. A move to a tour promoter with album and merchandise opportunities only gives artists more control over their product, as opposed to making numerous deals with separate entities.

The Wall Street Journal's article cites that "a range of players in the music business -- labels, concert promoters and even managers and ticketing companies -- are eager to make broad deals that give them a larger piece of the pie by participating in revenue streams such as endorsement deals between artists and advertisers, as well as the sales of concert tickets and merchandise." That very sentiment spells doom for the record industry as the "newer" entities that enter the album-making business make offers that are often better than the deals the record labels offer.

The possibility of Madonna moving from Warner Music is only the most recent in a long line this year of successful artists moving from the big labels, but so far the question has revolved around embracing new technologies like the digital market. Paul McCartney shook up everything back in March when he moved from the Terra Firma-held EMI to Starbucks' (NASDAQ: SBUX) Hear Music, seizing on a market that had primarily been used for selling compilation CDs. McCartney's Memory Almost Full sold extremely well and catapulted him into the digital world. Radiohead's In Rainbows is this year's other strong case, though exact sales numbers are not available yet (however, the album's download site did get overloaded yesterday).

But the problems that face label groups like Warner and EMI are not limited to those companies. The entire business model for the music industry is being redrawn and recreated, but not by the labels. As the cases of Madonna, McCartney, and Radiohead illustrate, the artist is taking control of an industry that has long abused its power.