Wired has an interview with Saul Williams where he talks about his album, Niggy Tardust, which he released for free last year a la Radiohead, in a pay or not to pay method (Williams offered the album for free, or for $5 in better quality MP3’s). Trent Reznor (who produced the album) had expressed some disdain over most people opting not to pay for the album, but Williams seems to be pretty optimistic about the whole experience. Here’s a sampling of the interview. To read the whole thing, go here.

Wired.com: It's been nearly a year since Niggy Tardust was released. How do you feel about the experiment and how it all went down?

 

Saul Williams: It was a huge success for me. All the excitement that was generated marks an inevitable shift in the music industry. I've felt like a part of some sort of a movement towards independence. On one hand, it’s liberating, but there's still alot to figure out and barriers to cross.The struggle continues. There are still so many artists that are dying for an opportunity to capture the attention of a wider audience, and how that happens has really yet to be discovered. There's still a lot more to figure out and learn along the way. Overall, I just found a wonderful window of opportunity with that album.

 

Wired.com: Would you consider the same distribution model for future projects?

 

Williams: I have no idea how I’ll release my next album. I always work independently and then decide what the best outlet is for [an album], but I haven’t talked to anyone — or any labels — yet. It's still open-ended. I'm more interested in developing the sound of the new album.  I didn't have to have a publicist because of the innovation and approach of the release — it was its own publicity machine. And now that it's happening so much [Girl Talk], there’s no guarantee [the attention from the press and media] would be self-generated. I’ll have to weigh different ideas this time around.

Photo Credit: Nicholas Monaco/Prefixmag.com