Buffalo Bill Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 What did you guys make of all this caper? http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/07/new-in-rainbows.html http://www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/monline/research/Documents/Economic%20Insight%2010.pdf Radiohead's album 'In Rainbows' released 'for free' to their fans, with the option to pay, or not to pay. Is this Tom, Jonny and the chaps fighting back against the torrent of dodgy download sites? Or have they cut of their noses to spite their face?* *Which would make a great title of a Radiohead song in my opinion? Did Radiohead set out to lose a battle, in order to win the war? Buffalo Bill . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 I guess they are able to do so as they are free agents, no record company to set prices, force them to cut a disc etc etc and as such all the profit will be theirs as opposed to a %age dictated in their contract. As such they may be better off even although theproduct is cheaper. Will people pay? I think so. I have enough faith in people that for the most and best part a contribution would be made. Interestingly it also allows the consumer to try before they buy, which isn't a bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_the_Jambo Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Its un-sellable and they know it. Radiohead are god awful. Hope that clears that up. Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan_R Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Its un-sellable and they know it. Radiohead are god awful. Hope that clears that up. Jamie agreed. Radiohead are utter dross. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig R Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Its un-sellable and they know it. Radiohead are god awful. Hope that clears that up. Jamie It's unsellable? It was top of the album charts when it finally got released on CD, despite having been available for download months in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.J Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 If free albums being downloaded encourages Radiohead - I'm all for it. If free albums being downloaded encourages Fratellis, Pigeon Detectives, Scouting for Girls, One Night Only, Kooks etc etc etc effing etc - then stop the internet now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johanes de Silentio Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 I like Radiohead a lot, and 'In Rainbows' is great, even if it did take some time to get into. I think this was an artistic statement from a band who wanted to try something different. The entire process of buying and selling music is up in the air, with some artists choosing to sell the rights to their albums to newspapers rather than sell it through high street shops. Radiohead clearly have little time for 'playing the game' with conventional approaches to marketing, etc, and are now free of their contractual obligations with their ex record company, who ****ed Radiohead off royally with a fairly tacky best of/greatest hits package. I, being a fairly conventional bod, waited for 'In Rainbows' to hit the shops and paid ?10 for it in HMV. Radiohead could easily have continued repeating themselves if they were genuinely interested in cashing in on the success of 'The Bends', but their (rather brave and admirable) decision to keep on organically deconstructing their sound has to be admired, even if they can clearly afford to take such chances - their early success has made them very wealthy young men! So there you go - a very pretentious post about a brilliant band! Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Brow Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 I think Radiohead are lucky in that they have a dedicated some would say obsessive fanbase. They could sell a cd for ?30 and fans would still buy it. This goes a long way to explaining how they made so much money from In Rainbows (depending on which reports you read, anything up to $9m in downloads alone!) I dont think many other bands could make so much money. I cant imagine people paying for bands like Keane, Scouting for Girls, the Enemy, One Night Only and other guff like that when its available for free. I downloaded it for free but then bought the ?40 2 vinyl edition. I know others that paid for a download and thenwaited until the cd was out effectively buying it twice because they wanted a "physical" copy. They could have made even more money out of it if the website selling it hadnt been so unbelievebly ***** by crashing all the time. They may have been free from record company restraints and wanting to make a point but I feel the results are skewed just because of who they are. Id rather see a mid level band who havent had a decade of major selling billboard 100 albums behind them trying it and seeing their results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Spackler Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 I bought it of the site a good while back. I paid a fiver which I thought was fair. Of course there's a much bigger argument about the whole thing. I haven't looked at the links but it will doubtless go into arguments about capitalism, socialism so and so forth. I'm neither a philosopher or an economist so I'll not attempt to make educated comment on that. A thing that I found odd a few years ago when I was on a plane in the US was that American Airlines had a Radiohead channel. This was when Kid A and Amnesiac were out. They were touring the US but weren't advertising the tour yet there was a Radiohead channel on an American Airlines flight?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovecraft Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 You should have a word with Deodato the next time he is on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Charlatans gave away their latest album free for a while. Brilliant album too. Apparently it has helped to push their live attendances. That is where these sorts of bands make their money these days I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig_ Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Charlatans gave away their latest album free for a while. Brilliant album too. Apparently it has helped to push their live attendances. That is where these sorts of bands make their money these days I think. Indeed. Was chatting to a member of a mid-ranking Scottish indie band lately and he was saying that they're making next to feck all from selling records these days, so he really didn't give a toss whether people downloaded stuff illegally or not. Whereas going to see live music actually benefits the performers financially... Incidentally, Jamie the Jambo and Alan R - seeing as you're so quick to slag off other's music tastes, perhaps you'd care to share with us what's currently floating your respective boats?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Spackler Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Charlatans gave away their latest album free for a while. Nine Inch Nails also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marshallschunkychicken Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Charlatans gave away their latest album free for a while. Brilliant album too. Apparently it has helped to push their live attendances. That is where these sorts of bands make their money these days I think. Agreed. Best album for a while from them. Wouldn't think they would need that to push their live attendances though - quite phenomenal live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott_jambo Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Radiohead were in the 'bow!? Small venue but id pay to see it. Corstorphine, the new music hub of Edinburgh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Brow Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Radiohead were in the 'bow!? Small venue but id pay to see it. Corstorphine, the new music hub of Edinburgh... Ah...the bow. Mind when it used to be ok for a quick sup before heading into town, havent been in there for about 2/3 years now. Is it still overly populated by every jakey piece of **** within a 2 mile radius on a friday/saturday night? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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