Hail To The Thieves
So I had an interesting conversation with Thom Yorke this weekend:
Hey, you. Wanna buy some music?
Hey, Thom, I don’t know. What type of music?
Only the best music in the world!
Oh yeah! I heard your new album was done! When will I be able to buy it?
You can buy it now, love.
But I heard your contract with EMI was up in 2003. You don’t have a distributor or a label.
Yeah, well. Labels are shite, aren’t they? We have a website, see. We put it up there. You can only get it there.
For how much?
Oh, I don’t know. Whatever you want?
Whatever I want?
Yeah. You know, whatever you want to pay. Just put the amount in here.
Really?
Really.
What’s the catch?
No catch. Pay what you want.
What if I want to pay nothing?
Hey, it’s up to you. Oh, did we mention we have a box set?
Yeah?
Un-huh. A deluxe box set. You get the album on CD, two vinyl records, a CD with additional songs, photos, artwork and lyrics.
How much for that?
Like, 40 pounds.
Ooooh. Ouch. That’s, like, $80!
Oh, c’mon! The Canadian dollar’s in good shape!
True…
Don’t you have a birthday coming up?
Yeah… in April.
Christmas then. Baby Jesus loves Radiohead on vinyl.
Who doesn’t?
Exactly! Plus, this way, you know if you choose to buy the box set all your money goes to our hardworking band. We don’t have to share the profits with labels or stores.
I don’t know. Don’t you have enough money? You’re rock stars. How do I know you won’t just spend it on drugs and booze?
Isn’t that what you’re going to spend it on anyway?
Well yeah. Probably.
Look, buy it or don’t, we just wanted to give you a chance to support a band you love without paying too much for our music. You don’t have to pay us anything if you don’t want to.
Hmmm…. I don\’t know if I can trust that kind of naked disregard for greed. Are you SURE you’re world famous musicians?
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So that conversation didn’t ACTUALLY take place outside of the fugue state I went into when I realized the new Radiohead could be had for free, perfectly legally.
The future is now, music fans. Leave it to Radiohead to pave the way. Radiohead’s album, In Rainbows, is available digitally on October 10 from their website and their website only.
Sunday night, I visited their website on a whim and almost peed my pants when I saw that I could pre-order a digital download of their new album. But I couldn’t figure out how much I was supposed to pay. When I clicked on the little question mark it told me the price was up to me. I clicked on a second question mark and another message popped up. No, really. It’s up to you.
I related this story to a friend at work today and she laughed. “Only Radiohead,” she said. It’s true. They did it their way with very little fanfare. Name another band that could make this work. Perhaps U2. But I wouldn’t salivate over a U2 box set like I am the Radiohead one.
Ye old intarwebs has been buzzing for months that the new album was done and everybody was wondering how the band would distribute it. Worried we’d have to wait for months more while they signed another major label contract. Or maybe they’d put it out on their own label. Or maybe they’ll just say “fuck the fiddly bits” and find a reeeeeheeheeeally powerful server and make it available online.
Of course, loads of bands have made their albums available online, so that’s not really new. But Radiohead is the first band I can think of with a big enough fanbase to make a difference. That they chose to go this route says a lot about how they feel about the record industry and labels. That should have labels very, very scared and other artists of Radiohead’s calibre very, very interested. Because Radiohead is arguably, one of the most important bands, if not THE most important band, of the last twenty years. Even the record industry knows that. Just ask the noted American hip-hop producer quoted in this Time article by Josh Tyrangiel.
“Radiohead is the best band in the world; if you can pay whatever you want for music by the best band in the world, why would you pay $13 dollars or $.99 cents for music by somebody less talented? Once you open that door and start giving music away legally, I’m not sure there’s any going back.”
ITunes proved that if you give the people a method to legally download music, they will pay. I tend to use it as my last option, prefering instead to give money directly to the artists I love. So why wouldn’t it work when a band says, “pay what you want and by the way, your money isn’t going to a retailer or a label or anybody but the band.” I guess we’ll see.
Personally, I’m not willing to pay much for the download. Maybe $5. That comes out to about 12 pounds. But here’s where Radiohead is really smart: There’s a pot of gold for them at the end of In Rainbows. I want the disc. I want the vinyl. I want it all. I think there are very few diehard Radiohead fans who won’t. If you’re a casual fan, you can pay nothing for the download now and wait for the more traditional CD release coming in 2008.
I’ve already decided that my Christmas present to me this year is going to be concert tickets to see them live, but maybe if I’m extra double plus good, Santa will see fit to download a deluxe box set of In Rainbows into my stocking.
In case you couldn’t tell (or you skipped to the end) Radiohead’s new album In Rainbows is up for sale on the band’s website. You honestly have no good reason not to check it out.
