Friday, October 12, 2007
Buy In Rainbows. Now.
Back in 1999, at the Columbia Institute of Tele-Information, we did some research to unpack the economics of the music industry and especially of album sales. We found that typically the artist would get 1-15%, while overheads ate up the rest. It also became obvious why the recording industry preferred one-hit wonders, because they could squeeze the one-hit wonders on royalties much more than they could do to Elton John, Pink Floyd etc. Anyways, having been a Grateful Dead fan and knowing how much money could be made the Grateful Dead way (touring, merchandise etc), I wrote a paper saying that recording artists should use new technologies like the Internet to bypass intermediaries and reach out directly to fans. Since then, Napster happened, RIAA lawsuits happened, Napster shut down, Itunes happened. Etc. Etc.
I was therefore absolutely thrilled and stunned to hear of Radiohead's brilliant idea to sell their new album, In Rainbows, directly to fans since they were not tied to any record label. What was even more innovative was that they asked fans to pay whatever they liked for DRM-free music. I did some calculations on how much a label-free digital format would cost and paid $6 for the album. Radiohead was obviously betting on the fact that most of their fans would pay something for the music, rather than download it for free.
Initial reports suggest that Radiohead was spot on. 1.2 million downloads have been reported in the first day alone and the average fan was forking out $10 (I don't know what the median amount looks like). That's pretty damn amazing for an experiment. Mind you, other artists have tried giving music away, but not using Radiohead's pay-what-you-like strategy. More importantly, Radiohead is a massively influential band if not the most influential rock band today, much more so than Prince, Nine Inch Nails etc. News has already been filtering out that Nine Inch Nails, Madonna, Jamiroquai, Oasis are all re-considering their marketing model after the success of the Radiohead experiment.
Does this spell the end of the recording industry? Almost certainly not, but it will seriously cause a lot of bands to think twice about signing royalty agreements which enrich the fat cats and leave them with very little. In particular, one has to wonder whether a Radiohead fan is fundamentally different from those of other bands. For instance, do they belong to a higher income strata and therefore do not mind paying money, despite not being forced to? I have no answer to these questions, but there is no doubt the release of "In Rainbows" is a seminal event in the history of recorded music.
As for the album itself, I absolutely loved it. It's a very downtempo, electronica influenced album (not quite as much as Kid A though). I had heard most of the tracks through the live bootlegs that emerged from the Radiohead tour last year. Even so, I am amazed by what a beautifully crafted album "In Rainbows" is, so make sure you listen to it in whole, rather than as parts. "15 steps" has elements of trip-hop, but evolves into something that only Radiohead could do. "Bodysnatchers," which was my fave track from the live bootlegs is a really rocking track that you cannot but tap your feet to. However, the album really takes off from this point. "Nude" gives way to one of my favourite tracks, "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" which is an absolutely gorgeous take on our being returned to the fishes, via the worms. "Reckoner" features the best percussion ever by Phil Selway, who probably has the most prominent role on the album besides Thom Yorke. My favourite songs after 48 hours of endless listening are "House of Cards" and "Videotape" (which I preferred the live version of, by a teeny bit). Videotape, of course, is just a beautiful little song about, what else, suicide! And above all of this hangs some really extraordinary piano and organ and Thom Yorke's signature whine. I think it would be apt to describe this album as somewhere between "O.K.Computer" and "Kid A."
I cannot possibly recommend this album enough. So, go to www.inrainbows.com and buy your copy now. If you're confused about how much to pay, my guess is that anything between $5 and $10 will be ideal. You could also download it for free and buy the CD at a higher bitrate as and when they hit the record stores.
I was therefore absolutely thrilled and stunned to hear of Radiohead's brilliant idea to sell their new album, In Rainbows, directly to fans since they were not tied to any record label. What was even more innovative was that they asked fans to pay whatever they liked for DRM-free music. I did some calculations on how much a label-free digital format would cost and paid $6 for the album. Radiohead was obviously betting on the fact that most of their fans would pay something for the music, rather than download it for free.
Initial reports suggest that Radiohead was spot on. 1.2 million downloads have been reported in the first day alone and the average fan was forking out $10 (I don't know what the median amount looks like). That's pretty damn amazing for an experiment. Mind you, other artists have tried giving music away, but not using Radiohead's pay-what-you-like strategy. More importantly, Radiohead is a massively influential band if not the most influential rock band today, much more so than Prince, Nine Inch Nails etc. News has already been filtering out that Nine Inch Nails, Madonna, Jamiroquai, Oasis are all re-considering their marketing model after the success of the Radiohead experiment.
Does this spell the end of the recording industry? Almost certainly not, but it will seriously cause a lot of bands to think twice about signing royalty agreements which enrich the fat cats and leave them with very little. In particular, one has to wonder whether a Radiohead fan is fundamentally different from those of other bands. For instance, do they belong to a higher income strata and therefore do not mind paying money, despite not being forced to? I have no answer to these questions, but there is no doubt the release of "In Rainbows" is a seminal event in the history of recorded music.
As for the album itself, I absolutely loved it. It's a very downtempo, electronica influenced album (not quite as much as Kid A though). I had heard most of the tracks through the live bootlegs that emerged from the Radiohead tour last year. Even so, I am amazed by what a beautifully crafted album "In Rainbows" is, so make sure you listen to it in whole, rather than as parts. "15 steps" has elements of trip-hop, but evolves into something that only Radiohead could do. "Bodysnatchers," which was my fave track from the live bootlegs is a really rocking track that you cannot but tap your feet to. However, the album really takes off from this point. "Nude" gives way to one of my favourite tracks, "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" which is an absolutely gorgeous take on our being returned to the fishes, via the worms. "Reckoner" features the best percussion ever by Phil Selway, who probably has the most prominent role on the album besides Thom Yorke. My favourite songs after 48 hours of endless listening are "House of Cards" and "Videotape" (which I preferred the live version of, by a teeny bit). Videotape, of course, is just a beautiful little song about, what else, suicide! And above all of this hangs some really extraordinary piano and organ and Thom Yorke's signature whine. I think it would be apt to describe this album as somewhere between "O.K.Computer" and "Kid A."
I cannot possibly recommend this album enough. So, go to www.inrainbows.com and buy your copy now. If you're confused about how much to pay, my guess is that anything between $5 and $10 will be ideal. You could also download it for free and buy the CD at a higher bitrate as and when they hit the record stores.
