New Trend in Music

[Sean]

I havn't really liked Radiohead for awhile but the 'pay what you think it's worth' concept is an interesting one. I wonder if it'll catch on with other bands. What would you pay if one of your favorite bands followed the concept?

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1666973,00.html

[Bobmuhthol]

The last paragraph of the article brings up a very relevant point: there's a ton of money in concerts. I think there could easily be a balance between the two industries without either being eradicated; new artists need record labels to become famous, and famous acts can make more than enough money by doing shows. Likewise, nobody would see a no-name band, and established bands don't need labels to profit from albums.

[Sean]

I guess the problem is that if you can get an established bands CD for next to nothing what would you pay for some new bands CD? I guess you can get away put your music out there for free at 1st but if your driving your own CD sales how do you compete?

[Blazing247]

Radiohead is a great band, a very unique sound in a world of prefabbed music- and I own every album they've released to this point. As much as I'd like to think them making a stand will change some things, I just don't think it will. Record labels will continue raping new artist profits, forcing them to produce "money makers" that suck ass and go against the true direction desired by the band, and rinse and repeat for decades to come I'm sure. Anything the record industry doesn't have control over, they sue for and end up owning.

I respected Tom Petty when he released a few songs for free in the Napster heyday, and I respect Radiohead just the same. I lost a lot of respect for Metallica, and after having seen them in concert more often than I count on my hands and owning all their albums also, I will never pay them another dime so long as I live for their behavior during all of this.

This concept is great (if only for an established band), but the record industry will smother it somehow or find a way to sue this practice into oblivion. There are a lot of things wrong with the music industry and it will take many more major bands to change things.

[Numbers]

File sharing isn't going away. Neither is the RIAA.

Eventually a medium will be found.

[Mistomeer]

I skimmed the article, but I didn't see anywhere in it that mentioned that the price of the "diskbox" is about $80 whereas the "download" is pay what you want.

[Sean]

The diskbox is more of a collectors item or a piece for those who want art. Or for some bizarre reason collect vinyls. But I think it's pretty clear that the album they are talking about is digital.


In Rainbows will be released as a digital download available only via the band's web site, Radiohead.com. There's no label or distribution partner to cut into the band's profits

[AestheticDeath]

Sounds like a great idea.

[Mighty Nikkisaurus]

I love Radiohead.. I could listen to all of the Kid A album on repeat for days I think. I'm going to agree with Blazing though, that while I think it is a cool gesture and it makes sense, I'm not sure if it'll have much of an impact.

[Clove]

My understanding of the music industry is that newer artists don't make much, if any money on album royalties. They make their real money off the concessions from their concerts.

This is true for breaking artists especially because they owe their label so much for advances to record and market their music. In order to make a living at all, they go on tour. They tend to be less concerned about profits from music sales because they see very little of it. However, if more people have access to their music, they are more likely to fill the next arena they show up at (which does make them money).

Well established musicians (like say, I don't know Metallica) on the otherhand, tend to be more concerned with album sales because they can make a nice royalty income from their catalogue and the creation costs would have been paid a long time ago.

[ElanthianSiren]

I thought the record company itself didn't make the money from touring; that's for the artists. What record cos make money on is sales, right?

I think Radiohead has a neat concept, and they're vocalizing what quite a few people have done since file sharing: preview then buy the album if it's worth it. They've just expanded it a dimension, which is even cooler. I hope it takes off. On the other hand, I can see record co's getting pissy about it.

I didn't lose respect for Metallica so much over the napster suit itself; it was when I watched a behind the music episode where Lars lamely claimed that the WHOLE suit was ONLY because their unpolished material was being leaked over media like Napster. Man up and take responsibility for having lost a ton of your fanbase over serving your label!

-That and everything they've produced has gone down the suck and suck more spiral since Puppets and marginally the black album (was okay still IMO). On the other hand, load and reload and rererereload DO have a function -- great kitty box liners.

[peam]

Radiohead should just keep releasing The Bends with a different name every year.

[Jorddyn]

I think it's a pretty cool idea, and might work well for no-name bands. I always wondered how exactly to support some of the local guys without saying "Hey, here's a 20"...