Radiohead's Experiment
This morning I got up and ordered the new Radiohead album 'In Rainbows'. For those of you that might not know, Radiohead has just done something historic, in the evolution of the music industry. Instead of going to iTunes, or using Limewire, or searching for torrents, or going downtown to Avalon or Cellophane Square, all I did was go to Radiohead.com, followed the check out process and a few minutes later, I had my download. While some have reported nightmare stories about going through the download process, my experience was smooth.
So why is this important you might ask? It was inevitable this would eventually happen, this kind of direct-to-consumer model has completely cut out the middle man. This new album is only available via Radiohead.com. It's cool to think how much mobility media can have now a days. If your an artist, and have a website with e-commerce capabilities, what's stopping you from taking this approach? Granted, Radiohead was the perfect candidate to try and start this kind of revolution. They realize their music has value, and they don't need any of the marketing bullshit that comes along with the music industry. I'd still say 2000's 'Kid A' is the all time weirdest album to hit number 1 in the U.S. While it is weird, it's also my favorite album of theirs.
The most interesting thing about the whole process is the "No Really. It's Up To You" approach to paying. It's an honor system. I've talked to people who didn't pay anything for the album and I've heard people say they'd paid upwards of hundreds of dollars...Wow! I can tell you right now I did pay something for it, however, I don't think I'm going to be sharing what that was here on this blog. If you really want to know, ask me in person, I'd love to talk about this one some more.
Bottom line, we are living through radical change in the music industry right now. This gets said a lot on 'Best Practices Not Included', but 'content is king' and great content will travel on it's own. The Internet has evolved to a point where this kind of organic communication and interaction trump's most alternative processes in my opinion. The hype has been phenomenal, the words been on the streets, in forums, the blogosphere, even the mainstream is all over it.
I'm still curious if this approach will take off and if it does, how will this model look with smaller bands where it's arguable, and on a case-to-case scenario, regarding how much and what kind of marketing is appropriate, if any. Curious to hear some opinions, I know there's music snobs out there who read this blog.
Lastly, the album is brilliant. Their music never seems to disappoint my ears. The melodies are dark, enchanting, and beautiful. I'm on my third listen right now as I'm typing this. As far as lyrics go, Thom Yorke seems that he might finally be finding some peace of mind. Notably, the last track on the album ends with:
No matter what happens now
I won’t be afraid
Because i know today has been
The most perfect day i’ve ever seen
It's this kind of optimism I've been waiting to see from Yorke...
