 The album is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non @-@ Commercial Share Alike license , in effect allowing anyone to use or rework the material for any non @-@ profit purpose , as long as credit is provided and the resulting work is released under a similar license . Reznor explained this move by saying " It 's a stance we 're taking that we feel is appropriate [ ... ] with digital technology , and outdated copyright laws , and all the nonsense that 's going on these days " . Jim Guerinot , then manager of Nine Inch Nails , explained the unconventional release of the album as " [ not ] a reaction to what doesn ’ t exist today . [ ... ] it ’ s more just like , ' Hey , in a vacuum I can do whatever I want to do . ' " The digital @-@ release of the album reportedly required an extensive overhaul of the Nine Inch Nails website in order for the site to cope with the influx of traffic , online @-@ payments , and customer service needs of releasing the album . These upgrades cost Reznor approximately $ 20 @,@ 000 to implement . Despite these measures , upon the release of Ghosts the site crashed , and additional servers were necessary to handle the traffic . 
