Like Ghosts, the record was released under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license via the band's website for no-cost, with a limited-edition physical version following two months later.

[4] Following the announcement, Nine Inch Nails released the 36-track instrumental album Ghosts I–IV in March, 2008 on Reznor's independent label The Null Corporation.

Anastasia Pantsios of the Cleveland Free Times said that "The Slip more or less sums up the terrain Reznor's covered in his nearly two-decade career", and went on to compare the album sound with the "edgy but irresistible beats" of Pretty Hate Machine and The Downward Spiral, and "the elusive atmospherics" of The Fragile.

[8] Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that "the music revives Nine Inch Nails' past, from stomping hard rock to dance-club beats to piano ballad to inexorably building instrumentals.

[3] Ed Thompson of IGN commented that the tracks "Discipline" and "Echoplex" channeled "bits and pieces of Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and even some Siouxsie and the Banshees".

[9] Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times called The Slip "murkier and less catchy than the last couple of regular NIN albums", and added that "Reznor blends the jarring sounds of the industrial rock genre [...] with a terse, punk-like attack, bringing an insistent, sometimes claustrophobic feel to his scenarios of alienation".

Lyrically, Eric Harvey of Pitchfork compared "Discipline" to one of Nine Inch Nails's first singles, "Head Like a Hole", saying "['Discipline'] comes from a long-established and now label-free artist trying to reflexively reassert his position in the pop landscape, on his own terms.

"[11] Tom Breihan of The Village Voice reached a similar interpretation of the album's lyrical content, writing "The Slip seems to deal with Reznor's break from the corporate machine, or at least from the numbing conformity-minded forces it represents.

Like Ghosts I-IV, each track from the album is accompanied by its own graphic image, each of which consists chiefly of geometric patterns against a grey background.

[14] The following day, Reznor released the single, "Discipline", by email to radio stations and as a free download on the official Nine Inch Nails site.

[17] On May 5, a free direct download link to the album in MP3 format was posted on the official Nine Inch Nails website, with a message from Reznor that said: "Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me.

"[21] As with Ghosts I–IV and Year Zero, multi-track audio source files of the album were also made available at the official Nine Inch Nails remix site.

The physical package was released as a six-panel digipack which contained the album itself, a 24-page booklet, a sticker pack, and a DVD with live rehearsals of "1,000,000", "Letting You", "Discipline", "Echoplex", and "Head Down".

[26] Supporting acts for the tour include Deerhunter, Crystal Castles, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Ghostland Observatory, A Place to Bury Strangers, and White Williams.

"[43] Eric Harvey of Pitchfork gave the album a 7.5 out of 10 and wrote "Reznor's unique capacity to commingle raging industrial bangers with ballads and ambient instrumental passages appears in its best form since The Downward Spiral, and here gains much of the focus and restraint that many remember used to be his calling card.

An ABC News op ed questioned if consumers would "ever pay for an album again" stating "with NIN now in the game, its [sic] hard to argue that this is anything but a harbinger of the future.

"[45] Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone magazine called giving away The Slip for free Reznor's "most radical stunt yet", and added that "[it's] an impressively democratic, fourth-wall-shattering gesture coming from one of music's biggest control-freak auteurs.