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Post by The Curmudgeon on Jan 7, 2008 10:17:59 GMT 2
I know that the new Radiohead album, "In Rainbows" has been out for a little while now, but I wanted to wait and see how succesful the physical CD version was before I started this thread.
OK, for those not in the know - one of the biggest bands in the world (certainly in the UK) released their album on digital download first. No big deal there, except they didn't put a price tag on it; you could download the thing for as little or as much as you liked. If you wanted it for nothing - you could have it for nothing.
At first I thought this would sound the death knell for its chart position when it was released officially, but I was proven wrong; it soared to the top of the charts, with a £40 Collectors Set selling stupid numbers in one week.
So what do we think of this idea? Can you see other bands releasing music in this way? Do you LIKE the idea of "paying what you want" for music, or do you think its going to devalue the buying of music?
Spill it.
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Post by Ben on Jan 8, 2008 6:34:54 GMT 2
I've never heard of such a thing. Did they release it SOLELY as a digital download, or at the same time as the actual album? I fail to see why anyone would PAY for it if they could have it for nothing...
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Jan 8, 2008 9:04:14 GMT 2
No, they released it a few weeks before the pysical copy as a digital download. You could pay as little or as much as you'd like.
Surprisingly, there were actually fairly few people who bought it for nothing. Of the number that did, it was "only till the CD comes out."
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Post by InvisibleWolfMan on Jan 8, 2008 21:50:22 GMT 2
I say this is a smart move. It hearkens back to the days where bands would have their demos on cassette and it'd get circulated around and around by loads of people via copies and then when the band released an album the people who enjoyed their 70th generation cassette would splurge on the official release. Then they'd probably attend the nearest gig the band was performing at...and so on and so on and so on....
It's not about the format, it's about making the band recognizable to new listeners and keeping their names in some kind of public eye.
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Post by Ben on Jan 9, 2008 6:02:46 GMT 2
I just don't see the logic in paying for it at all. I know I sure as hell wouldn't. Of course, if it were a band I cared about I'd just wait for the real deal anyway.
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Post by trashcanman on Jan 9, 2008 12:55:35 GMT 2
I love it! ;D I only wish I were a Radiohead fan. I would pay 5-10 bucks out of shear love for my band. Sadly, most of the bands I love enough to do this for are defunct.  But I applaud Radiohead for being a band who gives love to the people who deserve it most: the fans. What can the fans do but give it right back to them?  By the way, I've heard the the Recording Industry Assholes of America are attempting to make ripping your CD's that you bought and paid for to your computer illegal. www.boingboing.net/2006/02/15/riaa-cd-ripping-isnt.html If that happens, expect my CD purchasing to go down and my illegal downloading to go up! Multiply that by about 10 million other pissed off music fans and you will have an industry collapse. Then major bands will all have to follow Radiohead's example, eh? Sure, blame the poor man's greed for your shitty record sales, bitches, and ignore the fact that payola and reality TV are the only avenues you use to promote shitty, hollow act after shitty hollow act while real artists starve. Will I or anyone else buy an album in the store, then turn around and buy it again on iTunes so I can put it on my iPod? Didn't think so. Fuckers.  |
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Jan 9, 2008 21:59:48 GMT 2
Agree 100%, Trashy. I read this today and I was going to make a seperate thread about it, but I guess this is as good a thread to talk about it. Downloading music that you haven't paid for IS wrong. I won't go on about it, but it quite clearly is. However, when you BUY an album you OWN it, and if you choose to put YOUR CD in YOUR computer to listen to on YOUR I-Pod... who the hell is ever going to stop you?
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But I applaud Radiohead for being a band who gives love to the people who deserve it most: the fans. What can the fans do but give it right back to them? 
