Release and Reception
Upon its release in April 2007, Year Zero sold over 187,000 in its first week. The album reached number two on the Billboard 200 and peaked in the top 10 in six other countries, including Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. The album's first single, "Survivalism" peaked at number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the Modern Rock and Canadian singles charts. The "Capital G" promotional single reached number six on the Modern Rock chart.
In a post on the official Nine Inch Nails website, Reznor condemned Universal Music Group—the parent company of Interscope Records—for its pricing and distribution plans for Year Zero. He wrote that he hated Interscope for setting the price of the album higher than usual, humorously labeling the company's retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia as "ABSURD", and concluding that "as a reward for being a 'true fan' you get ripped off." Reznor went on to say in later years the "climate" of record labels may have an increasingly ambivalent impact on costumers who buy music. Reznor's post, specifically his criticism of the recording industry at large, elicited considerable media attention. Reznor continued his attack on Universal Music Group during a September 2007 concert in Australia, where he urged fans to "steal" his music online instead of purchasing it legally. Reznor went on to encourage the crowd to "steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin'." Although Universal never replied publicly to the criticism, a spokesperson for the Australian Music Retailers Association said "It is the same price in Australia as it is in the US because of the extra packaging." Due to the pricing dispute, plans to release a "Capital G" maxi-single in Europe were scrapped. The track was instead released as a promotional single, without a "Halo number", unlike most official Nine Inch Nails releases.
Year Zero was the last Nine Inch Nails studio album released on Interscope. Reznor announced in October 2007 that Nine Inch Nails had fulfilled its contractual commitments to Interscope and could proceed "free of any recording contract with any label", effectively ending the band's relationship with its record label.
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