The lead singer of Nine Inch Nails has urged fans of the band to steal its music as a protest against the high price charged by record companies.

Trent Reznor recently provoked the ire of his record label, Universal Music, by describing the price of the band's CDs as "absurd" and stating that fans were being ripped off.

The singer went one stage further at a gig in Sydney on 16 September, telling fans to steal the music instead. A video of Reznor's outburst, which contains strong language, is available on YouTube.

"Last time I was here, I was doing a lot of complaining about the ridiculous prices of CDs and that story got picked up and carried all around the world," he told cheering fans.

"Now my record label all around the world hates me because I yelled at them. I called them out for being greedy.

"Has anyone seen the price come down? OK, well, you know what that means: steal it. Steal away. Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealing.

"One way or another these [people] will get it through their heads that they are ripping people off and that is not right."

The band's latest album, Year Zero, is currently being sold in Australian shops for $30, far more than most other bands' albums.

Reznor claimed that a record company executive had told him that the price was high because the fans were so keen they would pay a premium for the music.

The move comes as artists and record companies try to find a way to combat online piracy. Prince recently announced that he would be suing YouTube and eBay for broadcasting his music without permission.