Well this one was a shocker, my favorate band Radiohead will be releasing their new album at a very weird price point.
Being currently unsigned Radiohead has decided to release their next album independently deciding to let the fans pay what they like for the new album (or download it for free) which will be soley available from radioheads online store.
Radioheads constantly spoke out against the record industry, calling them greedy monopolys that wouldn't be missed if they just died off. Blaming the industry for a increase in piracy for lack of decent releases and the closure of independent cd stores for bigger less varied corporations.
Two versions exist of the album, a boxed version for a none adjustable price of £40 containing several bonus songs and a vinil record and a basic 10 track version for which people can choose a price (including free).
Basically Radioheads asking people how they want their music distributed, wether people will pay outrageous prices of £40, wether people will pay nothing at all or something in the middle. Challenging the itunes style over pricing of digitally distrubuted music and the cd format of old.
"This feels like yet another death knell," emailed an A&R executive at a major European label. "If the best band in the world doesn't want a part of us, I'm not sure what's left for this business."
"That's the interesting part of all this," says a producer who works primarily with American rap artists. "Radiohead is the best band in the world; if you can pay whatever you want for music by the best band in the world, why would you pay $13 dollars or $.99 cents for music by somebody less talented? Once you open that door and start giving music away legally, I'm not sure there's any going back"
In any case its a pretty interesting experiment and with no form of mass produced cd hitting any time this side of christmas Radiohead are certainly going to put pressure on the industy and give customers pricing freedom.
So what do you guys think? is digital distrubtion the way foward? do you prefer your inlays? is this an effective form of combatting piracy? is it the final nail in the coffin for the LP?
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Yeah I heard about this as well today and it shocked me also!
I know Radiohead are a controversial band, but surely this is just plain silly?
Even the most die-hard fans would be pushed to pay more than a fiver for it. The boxed edition sounds seriously over-priced as well, I don't see what they are trying to say by making it so expensive Sure, it will be rarer, but that's only because hardy anyone will buy it!. What would interest me though, it whether the free downloads of the album will count towards sales? Because if they do surely this will be a record breaking album, sales-wise.
Personally, I don't like the whole Digital music thing where you download your music. I much prefer to have something I can hold with good artwork and decent inlays. It's much more collectable and looks impressive when you have a good sized collection. I think I'm part of a dying breed though as I am the only one in my flat who has a CD Player! Everyone else just uses iTunes and plays their music through the PC.
It will be interesting to see how this one pans out, but I can't see any other bands doing the same...
Either way, it's got everyone talking about it, so they've saved tons of advertising and marketing
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I ordered the digital download yesterday for £5 im not a diehard fan i just believe in them getting the money they deserve through all their hard work.
My best mate however is a die hard fan and has ordered the £40 discset...which in fairness including the sleeve with bonus tracks vinyls etc is a very reasonable price. It will become a collectors item at some point.
Radioheads whole plan is to cause "a stink bomb within the music industry" as Thom Yorke was quoted as saying somewhere i believe. Alos they will break even if they sell each digital download for 75p so even ifr the majority pay 0 for it i reckon a lot will pay atleast something therefore the band will still make money out of it.
Another thing...this is BRILLIANT publicity for the album. it will be all over the news and radio the day it's released and in the papers... so many more people will hear about it than if it were just a normal release. And being able to choose a price puts it out to more people who mite give them a £1 or £2 just to see what all the fuss is about.
I hope they have an effect on the music industry myself it will be VERY interesting to see what happens!
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While I admire their sense of anarchy, I don't see this as viable for the majority of bands. I support a local group by buying all of their merchandise, critiquing their output before it is finalised (although I'm sure my input is taking longer to filter through to their recordings than it should!!) and shamelessly promoting them whenever I can. I do not believe that they could continue to create new music if they had to give away their finished product, unlike Radiohead who have made a small fortune from the music industry that they are now trying to dismantle.. .. ..
Its not about giving away products, its about seeing how much customers want to pay. For 40+ minutes of entertainment I don't think £10+ is appropriate and thats what we get charged.
Music stars and the inc get over paid to the degree of footballers. Discussions to sell CD formats for £7 were scrapped when the likes of EMI dropped out (few years ago) the industry is making more money that it needs, its not fair trade, its a strangle hold.
Its not about giving away products, its about seeing how much customers want to pay. For 40+ minutes of entertainment I don't think £10+ is appropriate and thats what we get charged.
Music stars and the inc get over paid to the degree of footballers. Discussions to sell CD formats for £7 were scrapped when the likes of EMI dropped out (few years ago) the industry is making more money that it needs, its not fair trade, its a strangle hold.
But, the band who's link I posted (you did all listen?) paid out £750 just to record their latest EP. They are getting the artwork done as I type this (another £250) and then have to fund the pressing (about £1000) before they can consider selling it to recoup some of that money. At the moment they stand a fair chance to recover half of their costs by selling half (500) of the discs they get pressed at £4 a go. If a standard CD drops to £7 then they are much less likely to be able to afford to produce a third disc as they are less likely to be able to sell their EP and recover their costs.
While I agree that there is too much money and power concentrated with too few companies and individuals, I think the repercussions could actually be detrimental to more bands / artists than the benefits to the public and in the longer term could lead to less music for us all to enjoy. Maybe.
It doesn't work like that, when one element goes down others adapt to support it. Now if you shaved the ridiculous ammount of money the record inc doesn't need then making cd's and stuff then you could stream line the whole process cheapening it for everyone.
And the record industrys losing embarrassing amounts of money, their gunna need to cut prices soon anyway.
I know some musicians that have been doing that for years. I guess it means that digital downloading is going to be quite big soon. I think the golden era of music is gonna close and real musicians will emerge doing it for love more than the money. They'll still make a fair bit of money but not as much. I think it's a good thing to happen really.
It's all well and good for the more established (richer) bands to do this. It will, however, hurt the smaller more independant groups I think.
There is a 75p surcharge (or something like that anyway) so it isn't really "up to you 100%" with Radiohead's offer anyway. The 75p covers their basic costs.
For a small band, their basic costs may be higher and therefore they cannot do this. They're also trying to make a living and probably won't appreciate being cast as "greedy" by others who have the means, sitting on their high horses.
Basically, Radiohead have covered their ar*es by chargeing a minimum amount - they have no right to dictate what others will or won't charge as their minimum amounts (£4 in the case above) - or as in this case, attempt to move the industry to a situation that does.
Secondly, there are MANY people who don't regard digital downloads as high enough fidelity.
A lot of people quote 320kbps via LAME as their accepted standard.
Others (like me) claim lossless (ie an actual rip, rather than re-sample) as minimum. In which case, ALL downloads I've seen so far (wether from torrent sites or from iTunes) are demonstrably inferior to a hard copy CD bought from a shop (on my Hi-Fi anyway).
Rest assured, there are enough enthusiasts out there who do recognise 128/320/vbr etc etc downloaded music for exactly what it is.....inferior quality sound. They would much rather buy the higher fidelity CD from a shop.....I don't really see the "end of the world for shop bought CD" that many have prophesised since the advent of iTunes and it's ilk that others do.
There is a CLEAR improvement from 320/128/vbr etc etc to CD in my system, so I will continue to NOT d/l and exclusively buy my music instead. Radioheads anouncement won't change that one bit .
Music industry challenged
Sure, it will be rarer, but that's only because hardy anyone will buy it!. What would interest me though, it whether the free downloads of the album will count towards sales? Because if they do surely this will be a record breaking album, sales-wise.
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