Radiohead Break Free
On Monday, Radiohead announced the release of their new album ‘In Rainbows‘ . Now free from their contract with EMI records, they’ve decided to release the album themselves in two separate formats; one being a ‘discbox’ edition, consisting of the new album on CD, two vinyl records and artwork, and the other being a digital download. The discbox edition has a fixed cost of £40. The digital download payment screen lets you choose your own value to pay - from nothing up to £99.99. As the band say on the payment screen, “It’s up to you”. Not being tied to a record company any longer, the band will pocket any money they make.
Our generation is witnessing the move from selling atoms to selling electrons. Record companies are atom sellers. They sell chunks of atoms in record shaped packages. The shape of the chunks of atoms have been many and varied over the years - 78 RPM gramophone records & 8 track cartridges through to 45 RPM vinyl singles, cassette tapes, MiniDiscs, DAT tapes and CDs. Duplication of the atoms without degradation was in the hands of the record companies. The home consumer could in the past duplicate onto cassettes (those of you old enough may remember “Home Taping Is Killing Music” ) but perfect fidelity required equipment out of the reach of the home user. Thus the record companies sat in the middle of the producer and the consumer, making a tidy profit.
Record companies have been caught short however, and they are clinging onto selling their clumps of atoms, when all around them the sand is shifting under their feet. The new salespeople are selling their wares via electrons, distributing their songs via the ebb and flow of charged particles up and down high speed Internet lines, with the perfect duplication of the patterns of electrons in their own hands and virtually free. last.fm, Podcasts, MySpace and Digg are rendering huge marketing budgets less relevant.
I found out about the Radiohead album release within hours of its announcement; all it cost the band was to place a notice on their web site and social networking took care of the rest. As users duplicate content themselves in perfect fidelity, the Atom shifters are trying to legislate their way out of their own short sightedness , trying to fight the consumer , producing cack handed advertisements hilariously easy to poke fun at and in the process watching their businesses collapse.
Some companies have tried to tame this move to electrons with disastrous results. The utter debacle of the ‘rootkit‘ embedded in some of Sony BMG’s CDs highlighted their lack understanding of their consumers, displayed incredible arrogance and lead to costly class action suits and a PR catastrophe. Consumers simply don’t want DRM. They don’t want their computers to be infected by malware.
Radiohead are one of a number of groups redefining the landscape, as Karina’s post on the recent move by The Charlatans to give away their new single for free showed. Pay what you like for their electrons, or pay nothing. If you want atoms, the lush looking box set, will cost you. I have no doubt they will find this approach highly profitable.
Amazon’s new MP3 store is on the ball - now offering DRM free MP3s playable on anything; emusic has long been offering a similar service. Apple, with its iTunes store, was ahead of the rest of the crowd, but they are now playing catch up. The old dinosaurs of the music industry better start evolving fast or all that will be left will be their bones.
A very interesting post which highlights a lot of the issues facing the record companies. However, whilst I’ve never been one to feel too sorry for labels with revenues in the billions, I do think that the idea of DRM being some terrible injustice is a little shaky.
As I said on a similar post earlier, whilst the Radiohead & Charlatans cases are interesting, it’s probably not surprising that many of the bands giving away music can afford to do so because they made their millions with the old record label model.
Whilst I’m all in favour of free music, I don’t see it as my ‘right’. If the artist or label in question doesn’t want me to get their music for free however, that is their right; after all, someone’s got to pay for the sex & drugs to go with the rock & roll!
Everyone has to earn a living, and muscians are no exception.
But DRM is clearly failing, both the consumer and the companies who use it. I will never again spend another penny with Sony after their disgraceful rootkit fiasco. I would never buy music from Apple due to their DRM restrictions.
Amazon’s tracks are a totally different matter and are very tempting. The Arctic Monkeys achieved massive success utilising social networking over traditional Music Company promotional vechicles.
I did spend £50 today in Virgin Megastore on real physical CDs. Thing is, that particular Virgin Megastore used to be Tower Records, which shut down operations due to loss in sales and their belief they could not compete with the new music economy.
Times are changing and it’s adapt or die.
Hi I think this is an excellent idea from radiohead, I know it will work because ive seen an example all ready , a singer songwriter from Liverpool Alun Parry from the Alun Parry Band all ready lets his fans download his music in this way its very very good Check it out.
http://www.parrysongs.co.uk/buskernomics.html
http://www.parrysongs.co.uk/music.html
www.parrysongs.co.uk
It’s fantastic to see Radiohead using this model of distribution. Majors are and always have been vampires feeding on both the musician and the punter.
I’m happy to pay full price to the band and their management…..and know that it goes directly to them. More power to you boys! Congratulations.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071002-sony-bmgs-chief-anti-piracy-lawyer-
copying-music-you-own-is-stealing.html
The stupidity of these people never ceases to amaze me.
If my understanding of the situation is correct, the lion’s share of what we pay for music, according to record labels as content “owners”, are copyright fees. The cost of actually manufacturing a compact disc is negligible. With digital music such as MP3’s, the true cost is reduced even further. So what are we actually being charged for the second time?
If I own an album on disc, I have already paid the copyright fees associated with all contained content. Should I have to pay this fee again on the occasion the content changes format? I’m providing the hardware, software, bandwidth and storage medium myself at my cost. Seems to me I’m being charged again for something I’ve already purchased.
Just a thought.
http://www.whatpricedidyouchoose.com/
There’s an interesting column from John Harris in The Guardian on this.
On a rather separate (but amusing) note, the popular spoof News site Newsbiscuit sent out this comedy piece just after Radiohead’s news:
“Cameron apes Radiohead with ‘pay as much tax as you want’
The Conservative Party has committed itself to a radical new tax policy in which wage earners only have to hand over as much money to the exchequer as they think is appropriate. Inspired by today’s innovative release of Radiohead’s new album ‘In Rainbows’ for which music fans can choose their own price, the Tory front bench believe they have really hit upon a vote-winning economic policy.
‘We’ve done the sums and they definitely add up’ said Conservative leader David Cameron.”
Radical.
I don’t think Radiohead deserve as much praise and wisdom bestowed on them..I mean what’s their point? what’s their solution? there isn’t one! this doesn’t help solve a problem or even add to the argument. This is a complete and utter marketing /PR campaign and in my opinion they miss the whole point of where downloads are going to get the music industry. They have made a lot of money, they dont need to make that much more! so for them and prince et al..giving music away for free ain’t no biggie…but what about all the young up and coming bands!! it’s a massive two fingers in their face and the DIY scene.
Luckily the album is half hearted and not Radiohead at their best…
I just feel like if they as a band are going to make such a ‘bold (my arse!!!) step forward’ then back it up with some substance..I don’t deny that this may lead onto more acts dong similar things, but so far who’s standing up..The bloody Charlatans! A band with as much relevance these days as the poll tax. It’s a cheap, cynical and lazy marketing ploy in my mind.
They forget the whole point of what music was about for them when they first were tryign to break out and make it. Now sat in their hampstead mansions it all becomes a little bit clearer. Lame!
[…] there was the rather succesful way in which they launched their last album In Rainbows. Whilst it’s been suggested that more people decided to use peer-to-peer file sharing […]