Radiohead gives fans a double-edged sword.
I don't know what to make of this. On the one hand, I applaud Radiohead for striking out on their own, doing things their own way - the state of the music industry pretty much assures successful bands that they'll have even more success on their own, without the greedy fingers of industry reaching into their pockets at every turn. However, I'm not sure how I feel about how they've chosen to go about releasing their latest album In Rainbows. You see, they're doing something unique, from what I can tell. The album will be available to download October 9. You just pull up the band's In Rainbows site, and choose one of two options.…
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26 - JC Mosquito
I think this will be the test case - if they turn a few dollars, you'l see others do this. If it's a washout....
Does anyone remember when Frank ZAppa played I think it ws Joe's Garage in it's entirety on an LA radio station and told people to record it as a protest against his record company - did it hurt his sales? Is this the same idea?
27 - Patrick K Murphy
I read that the album was to be "only digital download", which it clearly isn't. However It should be at a decent bit rate 192kbs at least. Too much "CD quality crystal clear" digital output is at pathetically low bit rates! The website should say what the rate actually is!
28 - Tom Johnson
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, Patrick, and others, but I just got an email from WASTE and the files are going to be 160kbps mp3s. Very, very disappointed.
29 - Robert
A guy named derek webb did this with one of his records, offered it for free online. He is a guy who sold only around 20,000 records each album but when he offered it for free 80,000 people downloaded the album. People want free music and so he gave them what he wanted in order for others who never heard of him try his music and see if they liked it. It worked to, people bought his album and he even saw his past discs spike in sales as well. Cant wait to see what will happen if a bigger band such as this trys this technique and see what the payoff is.
This is the most excited i have been about what music is doing now a days than i have been for a long time.
30 - Josiah Weinhold
By releasing their newest album online, Radiohead is acknowledging a simple fact that the record industry has been painfully aware of: most people do not buy music anymore. In eschewing the traditional CD release, they are making a statement that echoes the reality the industry is too stubborn to face. CD sales have declined dramatically over the past 15 years, a fact that is not only due to the file sharing boom, but also the decline in the quality of what is being released. When 50 Cent and Kanye West have to perform a silly charade of ingenious threats and feuding just to sell more records, the listener is aware that the music industry is starving for more gimmicks, not talent, to sell records. While the record execs gnash their collective teeth over lost yachts and Parisian summer homes, another recently declining entertainment industry, film, has seen a resurgence in attendance this year. This demonstrates that there is something you can do to bring customers back. Just simply be Radiohead.
31 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Josh, you said it!! The RIAA is so concerned with gathering what's rightfully theirs instead of finding a way to harness the technology in front of them. The labels should support more artists that they don't feel are an instant success formula by providing them with a similar business template.
32 - bones
A free album? What a bunch of jerks!
I'm kidding, obviously.
WE SALUTE YOU RADIOHEAD. THANK YOU FOR BEING AWESOME ANARCHISTS WITH A LOT OF TALENT.
33 - Matthew
Lets remember that its only 40 euros,(pounds and pence or whatever) where they are from. Its not radioheads fault the American dollar is crap
34 - Tim
I've paid my 40 British Punds for my box set and can't wait... £40 is pretty reasonable considering what you get, vinyl, cd's, download, a booklet/art - what ever it is i'm actually getting i can;t wait!!! listenign to the album now after - im on the second listen and it gets better and better
I also heard/read that they will release the album as a standard album in January next year...
Enjoy it... I am!
Tim (London, England)
35 - DK
I was expecting this to be a big disappointment, but actually it's a pretty nice surprise. It isn't going to change my life, but it's one of the best albums I've heard this year.
I think the people complaining about the bitrate should actually give it a listen before judging it. They're using a decent MP3 encoder, it's not like a lot of the MP3s online that are encoded with an old version of mediocre software. It's surprising how decent 160Kb files can sound when they're done well. It would have been nice if they'd used VBR, for higher quality at the same file size, but I think they're fine as they are.
Well worth giving them a few $ even if you aren't normally someone who buys music. What they've done here is a very interesting experiment, I hope it works out for them. I hope other bands follow their lead and cut out the music industry middleman.
36 - The Atheist
You're lame bro. How dare you call them thieves. No one wants our money anymore, America is going to shit so deal with it. Maybe if you stopped you're crack habit you can afford it.
37 - Tamjam13
So this is what Radiohead meant by OK COMPUTER, They actually are putting those words into action. It's the computer age and it can either kill us or we can use it to better us and fight the evild around us like record companies. They take an artform like music, water it down, and feed it to the masses. Instead they should let the people decide what they want to listen to and how much they are willing to contribuite in order to kepp the artist alive. If people don't like the artist then they will starv and die off. It's survival of the fitest, only the best material can survive now.
38 - Tom Johnson
I'll ask once again, both here and in the other piece I wrote: if you had known there was going to be a CD release, would any of you have paid anything for this? If so, would you have paid as much as you did this time?
39 - mjike
okay, look, i dont claim to know what radiohead is up to with this latest stunt. if indeed it is a stunt. maybe its just an experiment. i wonder if they are trying to find out if making the record available for (basically free) download will hinder their record sale next year. i did download the album (for free), but i will be purchasing the release next year as well. while i cant really afford to buy the currently available deluxe set, i still enjoy holding an actual physical album in my hands. and i dont mean some burned copy. i guess the record collection is that important to me. say what you will, but good music is important enough to me to pay for it. oh, and as a side note, i also do not think the $80 is too much to pay for the current package deal. i mean, considering the materials included.
40 - Ivo Wallclimber
Brilliant. The album, the music, the distribution. Simple, simply brilliant.
:)
41 - Wavejammer
I think Radiohead thinks were a bunch of dummies! The downloadable version of 160Kbps, a mediocre at best bit rate isn't even worth my time to listen to no matter how good it is. The only way I'd even think about paying any of my coin for it would be if it were offered in FLAC.
42 - Greg Kulbert
Now you may watch most of the tracks of Radiohead album 'In Rainbows' at the site Radiohead In Rainbows. These will load from the site itself.
43 - Matt
Surprisingly enough, the album itself is even more brilliant than the manner of its release. All of the naysayers predicting disaster have been proven wrong. In excess of a million downloads were "sold" and the discbox orders exceeded their expectations (they had to hire more people, as these were made to order). I think too many people underestimated how many hardcore Radiohead fans there are, and our willingness to pay a price that we do not see as unfair. With the music world so full of overmarketed, hyper-packaged, unoriginal re-hashed turds lauded as wonderful art, its refreshing to see a truly talented and unique group of musicians with a progressive release aimed at revolutionizing the entire industry to the benefit of the artist and the listener greeted with such a massive response.
44 - Matt
Surprisingly enough, the album itself is even more brilliant than the manner of its release. All of the naysayers predicting disaster have been proven wrong. In excess of a million downloads were "sold" and the discbox orders exceeded their expectations (they had to hire more people, as these were made to order). I think too many people underestimated how many hardcore Radiohead fans there are, and our willingness to pay a price that we do not see as unfair. With the music world so full of overmarketed, hyper-packaged, unoriginal re-hashed turds lauded as wonderful art, its refreshing to see a truly talented and unique group of musicians with a progressive release aimed at revolutionizing the entire industry to the benefit of the artist and the listener greeted with such a massive response.
45 - Jackie
Maybe I'm hard of hearing, but I really can't tell the difference in sound quality that other people were concerned with. The songs sound CD quality to me. So, Wavejammer, you're missing out on a fantastic album.
46 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Well, I think the concern wasn't the style in which the album was delivered but the quality of said album.Unfortunately, if you can't hear the difference in the compression scale,meaning less than 96kbps to a max of 320kbps, then I would question how much of the actual "music" you can hear. Also, I don't believe I read anything on here about how "disasterous" the decision was going to be but how they should've disclosed the streaming quality,again, of said product.
I personally feel that an artist by name of NiggyTardust has approached this type of marketing in the manner as which the people here thought Radiohead should have.
47 - saat
i dont go for the download....i'll buy the cd no matter what they ask me to pay for it :)
48 - Wavejammer
That's OK Jackie, I have over 4000 fantastic CD's to hold me over till "In Rainbows" is released next year in it's truer format the Compact Disc.
Btw, I've owned reference-quality stereo systems (latest is an Adcom preamp/poweramp set-up with an M&K speaker system) for the past 30+ years and Yes I can tell the difference!
49 - Tim
I think this is their best album so far (although i love everything they've ever done)
anyone else agree that it;s amazing? so many layers and backing vocals - i hear something different everytime i listen to it..
can't wait for the second half of the album
T
50 - Ian
It's only 80 dollars because the value of the dollar is at such a tremendous low in contrast with the strengthening of the pound. Just because the value of the dollar has dropped doesn't mean the band is going to lower the price in pounds. If the dollar was worth twice as much as the pound, Americans would be thinking "Holy fuck, the greatest band that has ever graced this Earth is selling this masterpiece bonus (Vinyl and the whole bit) for a mere 20 dollars." Would they raise the price then for the Brits just so the Americans now have to pay a closer to actual value amount? The Brits might protest that. Now having the album, the only qualm I have is that the audio quality is 160 kbps. Maybe that's where they want to goad people into buying the new album. Maybe they thought "Hey, We'll entice people that haven't listened before into hearing this, thereby increasing our fan base (how could they not with this album?), and we'll only disseminate a 160 kbps album. We'll likely end up with even more people buying the album." Even if their marketing strategy is designed to bring in more money, they are at least not "thieving" us.
In any case, it's a wonderful album.
51 - Tom Johnson
You seem to be under the impression that the British pound was worth less than the US dollar at some point. It wasn't (aside from a couple of brief blips in the past that have no bearing on today's prices). It has always been somewhere around 2 times as much as the US dollar.
52 - Alex
I don't understand those of you complayning about what they have done, seriously! You dont think a FREE MP3 RADIOHEAD ALBUM even if it's at 160kbps, is not something we should thank them for? Not to mention what their approach will do to the future of the music industry? If you want to pay for a CD may be you should just go BUY the new Brittney Spears album or Paris Hiltons'. That should be enough to please your minds. Oh yeah, and if you value what they do, $80 for the pkg is not a bad deal AT ALL. What? you dont need the artbook and the VYNILS? How about you just wait for the CD then and stop bitching!
53 - Alex
Oh yeah and Mr. Tom, I don't think you realize the commitment and dedication of most Radiohead fans. Here's a story for you... my brother who is paying his way through college with a part time job, never has money and rarely eats well, decided to pay his $2 dollars (which was all he had on the 10th) to get the album and contribute somehow instead of eating a decent hamburger or not paying at all! I applaud him and those like him. ps- I just ordered the $80 pkg, and he is waiting for the CD release to buy that also...
I guess we just value what they do. Radiohed! CHEERS MATES!
54 - Tom Johnson
Hmmm, that's funny. That contradicts what I've been seeing. It turns out that only 2 out of 5 "fans" chose to actually pay for the album after all, and the band averaged about $2.26 for each download due to that. I guess maybe I do realize the "commitment and dedication" of Radiohead "fans" afterall, huh? Of course, the band denies this but won't actually tell anyone how they did, which means it likely is worse than that.
Let's not forget that there are server fees and such to pay for hosting all these downloads - not a small amount of money we're talking about, either.
And I still fail to see how the $80 box is "not a bad deal." It's far too much for what you get - two pieces of vinyl and two CDs in a box. The music on the CDs will be available soon, so it's not like there's something exclusive here (remember, there was nothing said about CD 2 being exclusive to the box and therefore that material will be out somewhere, somehow.) But if $80 spent on that is a good deal to you, more power to you. I'd rather buy 7-8 other $10-12 CDs, but whatever.
55 - Tom Johnson
Why were my links stripped out of my previous comment? They were rather important to the point of what I was saying.
56 - Christopher Rose
Tom, your links weren't stripped out, you missed the "more than" arrowheads at the end of each url. Fixed now.
57 - As If
Artist owns the art, artist does what he wants, and you do what you want. What could possibly be wrong with that?
I appreciate the fact that people like free music, and it's cool that Radiohead made that option available - since most major bands offer a couple songs for free and sell the rest through iTunes, the download-only option seems like roughly the same thing to me (i.e., it covers both those bases). But I happen to enjoy giving money (and business) to people whose efforts I support, and I try to avoid giving money (or business) to people I distrust. I bought the set happily, and it's coming any day now.
I have no problem helping to support the boys. They deserve it for everything they've given me - which is worth a LOT more than the cost of all the Radiohead CDs I've bought (all of their full-length US releases). I wish they were here so I could buy them all a round of drinks as well.
58 - Josh
I paid about 3 bucks american for the download, and just recently bought the store released version. Personally I find the downloaded version to sound quite good. I'll admit that I might not be listening to it on an expensive audio system, but if I spent that much money on a stereo, I would opt to buy the 80$ pack.
And the reason I would buy the deluxe version is to have a piece of history (maybe a little hyperbole, but who doesn't want an album made especially for them?) If I had enough money, believe me, i'd buy it as soon as possible.
on another note, I have rebought some albums I had on CD, this time opting for vinyl.
We must also remember that the "two pieces of vinyl" have the amazing In Rainbows on them.
And finally: Radiohead have said several times that the downloadable version was to preempt the bootleggers. That's what it was, a band sanctioned (and probably better quality) bootleg. I love Radiohead, and hope they continue to make great music, no matter what format it happens to be on.
59 - THOM YORKE FANS
When you were here before,
couldn't look you in the eye.
You're just like an angel,
your skin makes me cry.
You float like a feather,
in a beautiful world
I wish I was special,
you're so fucking special.
it's all about THOM YORKE expressive face
60 - julian
downloaded it 4 free. got the discbox 4 xmas. 4 those who didn't get the second disc, it's just as good as the first. and i consider it their best work 2 date. and i've been there since "Pablo Honey".