The album site requires a password to be submitted where the link to the download page can be sent to. The site itself states:
<blockquote>as a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album '''one hundred percent free''', exclusively via nin.com.</blockquote>
<blockquote>we encourage you to [http://remix.nin.com/ remix] it, share it with your friends, post it on your blog, play it on your [[podcasts|podcast]], give it to strangers, etc.</blockquote>
According to a [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/20818072/nin_release_free_album_online Rolling Stone article], the album was finished May 4th and sent to Sudjam, the company that manages nin.com, at 9:30 p.m. for a midnight release.