I’ve been a fan of Radiohead since their album OK Computer. I sometimes ask myself the question, “What music will still be around in 200 years?” and I think Radiohead have a promising chance at still being discussed and listened to.
One innovation bound for the history books is how they will distribute and price their new album, In Rainbows. It’s available as a digital download from their album website at a price you decide. That’s right, when it comes time to pay, you type in the price you want to pay. You can choose to pay a little or a lot — it’s all on the honor system.
VH1.com calls it either “the opening salvo in the all-out war for the future of the music industry” or “the most bizarre marketing strategy of all time.” I’d call it an interesting example of the individualization of the music business. For an artist as large as Radiohead to do this, without the aid of a record company pushing it, is remarkable.
Is this the future of selling music?
Hi. Great blog. I wanted to simply address your statement that the In Rainbows release strategy is an “innovation bound for the history books”… it may end up in said books, but Billy Corgan’s Smashing Pumpkins deserve that spot, for their label-defying recording and free release of Machina II in 2001: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machina_II/The_Friends_%26_Enemies_of_Modern_Music
I love Radiohead. I even went to a wacky college that let me design and teach a course on their music, as an undergrad. Yet… I listen to little Radiohead these days, while my respect for the writing of Billy Corgan has only grown. The whys of that are another issue.
Thanks for the update/correction! In fact, I do rather remember reading about the instance of the Smashing Pumpkins many a year ago.
I suppose the point is that the channels of distribution are now more open than ever before. Art is created all the time by hundreds of thousands of artists–that’s a given. But it is just as important to consider how this art reaches an audience of any size.
For better and for worse, art’s delivery to the public at large is now in the hands of the artist. The implications of this are staggering–not the least of which is how does an individual artist gain attention these days? But also: how is the good separated from the bad? “Great” art is not always recognized, and “poor” art is frequently rewarded for the wrong reasons.
But the answers to these questions, for now, are less and less in the hands of corporate profit-makers.