photo: Rob Sheridan

Trent Reznor is mostly a man of his word When he said that he would release a series of three EPs, he’s pretty much done exactly that – almost. Not the Actual Events came out in December of 2016, followed by Add Violence last year. And Bad Witch, due on June 22, is a six-song, 30 minute release. However, it’s being marketed as an album, not an EP, even though it’s length and number of songs technically makes it an EP. Trent Reznor explained his decision to have the release marketed as such, speaking in the NIN fan forum Echoing the Sound:

Want to know why it’s being labelled an LP instead of an EP? EPs show up with singles in Spotify and other streaming services = they get lost easier. EPs feel less important in today’s music-isn’t-as-important-as-it-once-was world. Why make it easier to ignore? We’re not charging any more for it so why get worked up about it?

That makes sense, given that there’s really no difference digitally between an EP and an album, except for perhaps costing more. If it’s the same price for both, it shouldn’t technically matter. As was noted by Metal Injection, if you’re searching for an LP versus an EP, it’s easy for the EP to get lost in the search. And really, at the end of the day, Trent and Nine Inch Nails have been releasing albums innovatively for years, so how is this any difference.