A Brave New Musical World

Radiohead's In Rainbows came out last week. The thing is is you can't buy it in stores and even critics didn't get an advance copy, only radio was serviced with a track or two only a week or two prior to the official release. In essence, everybody got to hear it at pretty much the same time--last Wednesday--a true communal musical experience just like the old days.  That rarely happens now with the immediacy of the internet and profileration of 'leaks' both official and non, seemingly anyone can snag a copy of nearly any album weeks and months before its' offical release date.  Virtually everyone heard it at the same time and reviews are starting to trickle in.

Not only did Radiohead manage to bring back the excitement of so carefully guarding a record until  its' release but even more revolutionary (even if it's not the first time it's been done) was their self-imposed policy of allowing the record-buying public to 'name their price' for the album.  They no longer work within the confines of a record label so there's no promotional budget to recoup and since there's no hard copy of the record (yet) the only overhead they have to cover is the price of recording and encoding the files, which is next to nothing. Oh sure, there's a planned deluxe hard copy in the works (for £80) which includes a CD of the album, artwork and a audiophile quality vinyl pressing but for now you can download the album for whatever price you thnk is fair. My reasearch turned up the figure of 1.2 million copies of the album have been sold so far.  I felt that $10 was a fair price (£4.91) and downloaded the record at that price.  I'm still a purist at heart and still like getting some tangible product when I pay my money for an album, so to pay $10 and only have a bunch of ones and zeros on my computer is still a bit odd but as much as I like Radiohead, I'm not about to pay $80 for any new record, no matter how good.  Despite owning an iPod for over two years, this was the first time I bought an album as a download.

I remember the era in which CDs were only made in West Germany and Japan and record labels said that once a plant was built in the United States, the price of CDs would come down drastically.  That never happened.  The consumers were used to paying a certain price and the labels renegged on their promise and kept jacking up the price of CDs, even though the cost of a CD with artwork and a jewel case was less than the price of pressing a vinyl album with artwork.  For some, this new experiment Radiohead is conducting may be the consumer's first chance to 'get back at labels' for their decades of avarice, which would be wrong.  Others may stop downloading music for free and pay what they feel is a fair price for a record they may have otherwise tried to get for free elsewhere. Who knows?  That's what's so interesting about this release. While others have tried this honor system, Radiohead are the biggest band to do so which is why so many people are watching this unfold with such interest.  If it works, it may be the first domino to fall in the archaic record label system, if it doesn't, labels may cling to their outdated business models a bit longer.

Where do you stand on these issues?  Have you bought the Radiohead 'album' yet?  Do you plan on it?  How much would you pay? Are you like me in that if you're paying X amount for a record, shouldn't you get some physical version of it? 

FYI, we're off to Italy this week and into early next week but I will post-date another installment of The Unheard Music for Friday but this post (and Unheard) will be it for this week and until we return, so make the most of it. Ciao!!

Comments

[Jeff]

I probably won't ever pay anything to download music. I might think about subscribing to a service, but I expect that I will have to be forced into it - like paying for TV because I need to have cable to get anything watchable.

I'll still pay good money for vinyl though cos records are so much cooler than CDs or MP3s.

[Mike]

While I applaud the delivery method, 160 kbs MP3 files (currently the only way the Radiohead album is offered up) are just a little too lo-fi for me. I don't feel that I should get something physical if I pay X for it, though I always prefer a CD copy for the higher fidelity.

[mattbarr]

Ken, I'm like you. I really like having something tangible for my money, even if I NEVER listen to it. I've bought a few CDs that were immediately ripped and placed on my ipod and I never actually played them on a CD player. That seems kind of wasteful to my conservationist side, but comforting to know I own that CD and can go to it if I need to.

I did download "In Rainbows" for 5 pounds from the band site. Not sure why, since I don't have a problem downloading music for free on occasion. Guess I felt they were worth it. I think it's pretty good.

[Kent]

I think it's a great idea, no need for record companies anymore. Maybe creativity will rule again. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

Having said that, I think the new radiohead album is boring. I soooooo wanted to love it but after several listens I really only sort of like a couple songs.

[Christopher Calandro]

Buddy, to this day I still use the Ken Calculus for my record-buying dollar: a buck per song, or thereabouts.

[Brian]

Bought it, downloaded it, and have really enjoyed it. I think it was a great idea, one that may net them a few new fans or bring back some old ones. I will buy the disc when it comes out as Radiohead is one of the bands that I must buy their discs rather than downloading it. Since buying my I-Pod a few years ago I have downloaded many albums. I missed the discs at first, but now have moved passed that. U2 and Wilco are a couple of the bands that I still will seek out the discs for. If this is the another step in the dismantling of the record industry, I am all for it.