When I was a kid, rock stars were godlike beings shrouded in a thick fog of mystery - we knew next to nothing about them that wasn't contrived, spun and micromanaged by publicists, managers and an army of handlers. They were otherworldly beings that came to rock our world and give herpes to our sisters and girlfriends - that's all we knew. We were just thrilled to be in the same stadium when they came to town. Never in hell would I have guessed that within a short period of time the industry would be tanking, and technology (mixed with a heavy dose of celebrity/tabloid obsession) would pull the veil on the well-kept secret that most of our musical heroes are just as human as we are. For some of the big swingers, that's meant the death of the God complex that used to be part of the package deal for rock stars on the rise. For others, it's a way to finally connect with their audience directly and move forward into new territories.

Trent Reznor, frontman and mastermind of Nine Inch Nails, has become the poster boy for modern artist etiquette, having paved the way for an entirely new music business attitude through forward-thinking marketing concepts that center on communicating with fans directly, rather than the bureaucratic multilayered insulation of the past. Reznor never hides behind a larger-than-life character persona, instead representing himself as a real person, very frequently posting updates to his own site and sharing his insights/fears/hopes/frustrations with his fans directly. He's even active on Twitter. But as remarkable as that somehow still is, it's small potatoes compared to the bigger outside-the-box schemes Reznor's pulled in recent years.

In 2007, prior to the release of the Nine Inch Nails album Year Zero, Reznor launched a multi-platform reality-themed scavenger hunt intended to engage fans and deliver a unique user experience that nobody had ever seen before. He hid USB flash drives loaded with new NIN music in random locations at his shows (restrooms were popular). At the time, it wasn't clear whether Reznor was responsible for the leaks or if it was the work of some overzealous fan/insider, inspiring a barrage of ghost-hunting takedown notices from the RIAA, which fueled the campaign even further. This guerilla-style embracement of technology and abandonment of traditional marketing structure has become Reznor's calling card; he even allows fans to access a seemingly endless array of source material for remixes, which has engaged a large chunk of the NIN fanbase and inspired legions of amateur producers.

While still under major-label contract, Reznor launched into a blistering tirade against major label antics while onstage at the group's concert at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion in 2007, singling out Universal Music Australia specifically. Dismayed at the absurd $30 price tag the label charged for his album, he called the record label "greedy fucking assholes," imploring fans not to buy his album, but to "steal it. Steal away. Steal, steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealing. Because one way or another these motherfuckers will get it through their head that they're ripping people off and that's not right." To many who read the story in the following days, a tangible sense of change could be felt approaching, like a tidal wave beginning to lift the horizon at the edge of our vision. These weren't empty words of rebellion. Things were about to change.

After fulfilling what would serve as his final major label contract, Reznor began his independent career with the release of Ghosts I – IV, a 36-track album that was offered to fans in a variety of models, all under a Creative Commons license: first 9 tracks for free, $5 for all tracks plus a 40-page pdf booklet; $10 for 2 CD set plus a 16 page booklet; $75 Deluxe Edition Package (i.e. box set); $300 Ultra Deluxe Limited Edition Package, capped at 2500 units all signed by Reznor himself, which sold out in 30 hours. Reznor grossed $1.6 million in the first week alone, and the album later became a number one seller on Amazon in spite of an attribution license making it perfectly legal for anyone to burn and share the album with whomever they pleased.

That was an impressive and inspiring step forward, but not nearly as much as what Reznor did with his next album. The Slip, a blistering, full-throttle Nails album that outshined Year Zero by a mile, was offered for free download for two months as a personal "Thank You" from Trent and a double-fisted middle finger to the record industry. That still wasn't enough, however - Reznor went so far as to create a visual depiction of the volume of downloads by location on Google Maps, and a full tour venue listing and ticketing options. The tour was a huge success.

Trent recently posted a note on the Nine Inch Nails website announcing that NIN will tour with Jane's Addiction later this year for what will probably be the last Nine Inch Nails tour for a long, long time.

In the post, titled "A note from Trent and a wave goodbye," he wrote, "In NIN world, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases. I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while. Last year's 'Lights in the Sky' tour was something I'm quite proud of and seems like the culmination of what I could pull off in terms of an elaborate production. It was also quite difficult to pull off technically and physically night after night and left us all a bit dazed. After some thought, we decided to book a last run of shows across the globe this year."

It's not necessary to enjoy the man's music to respect his pioneering feats, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Reznor gives his all in his live shows, never half-assing it, always changing up the design to deliver an ever-increasingly honed sonic powerhouse onstage. As a fan, I've seen my share of live "Burn" performances, but this version takes the cake by a screaming mile. It's here that we get a solid grasp of why Reznor calls the current line up the best he's ever worked with - guitarist Robin Finck, Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Ilan Rubin provide lean mechanical precision to a presentation considerably stripped-down from NIN's most recent, massive Lights In The Sky tour.