Comments on: This is madness! No, This is Radiohead

By: Matt Balara

Matt Balara — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:35:33 +0000

2konnexus: I'm with Oli, I disagree. First-mover isn't the issue. Others like comparatively complete unknown Jane Siberry (even more unknown now that she's changed her name to "Issa") have been doing the "Self Determined Pricing" thing since early 2005, although certainly with less financial success than Radiohead. Not only is her label Sheeba selling with a pay what you want model, but they're also admirably transparent about who paid what. Take the same model, attach a superstar band, and you've got Radiohead's new album and a kick-ass model for putting money in the hands of the artists. The didn't move first, they just had the weight to make the world notice.

The next and more exciting step is establishing marketplaces to gather "pay what you want" music in one place. How many CDs would you own if you'd had to visit the band personally to buy each one?

By: radiohead.musicnewsandviews.com

radiohead.musicnewsandviews.com — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:16:26 +0000

[...] This is madness! No, This is Radiohead The release of music for free online is certainly no new thing, with many bands finding success through file-sharing. That fill-sharing kills the record industry is also nothing new, however… Read the full article on iA’s website… [...]

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:18:22 +0000

An interesting development on this. I just received a message in my inbox from waste.uk.com who looks to have been providing the hosting for this download. Interesting to see what happens when it hits stores.

“FAREWELL TO IN RAINBOWS DOWNLOAD AREA We also thought you’d like to know that the download area that is ‘In Rainbows’ will be shutting its doors on the 10th December so if you’ve not yet downloaded, here is the place to go http://www.inrainbows.com“

then from their site: “For those of you who wish to buy In Rainbows in the usual way, it will be available on CD/Vinyl and download from traditional outlets from the 31st December 2007.”

By: free music downloads » Blog Archive » This is madness! No, This is Radiohead

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:30:52 +0000

[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]

By: Jrim

Jrim — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:46:59 +0000

Pitchfork made a good point about this during the brief run-up to the release of “In Rainbows”. The reason there isn’t a CD (or box set) available in Tower Records is because it isn’t actually ready yet: Radiohead are basically leaking their own album, while giving people the option to pay for it. What I find exciting about this is the idea of a band being able to release their stuff as soon as it’s ready, thus sparing us the barrage of advance publicity that normally leaves me bored of an album before it’s even been released.

By: konnexus

konnexus — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:29:05 +0000

i see a big difference between 1mio-hp and radiohead in the sence that radiohead actually delivers a product, a service that you use and profit from. 1mio-hp was an approach to getting attention while i as a user profit from radioheads music. in that sence: yes, other bands will be able to earn money with it. and no: they won’t get that much publicity which leads to millions of dollars on the first day.

By: Chris Marmo

Chris Marmo — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:39:08 +0000

The download process on the site is not the easiest option for those familiar with other methods (BitTorrent or otherwise).

If they just released a torrent for the album I think it would have lost some of the charm. Music has been available for free (legally or not) for a long time, but being able to type your own price into the shopping cart is what was truly unique. That's what made everyone swoon.

By: Oliver Reichenstein

Oliver Reichenstein — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:37:28 +0000

konnexus,

I totally disagree. This is not a onemilliondollarhomepagething. Yes, Radiohead has the necessary hype to make the really big bucks as a first mover, but I bet that Moogwai or The Arctic Monkeys and even Leonard Cohen make more money without the middle man.

But: The product is the experience, the interface is the brand. Radiohead's product is music. Yet, to get the full brand experience - which as a fan, one wants - you will have to buy the box.

Big shocker for me was that one cannot buy the box in the music shop. At least in Tower Records Shibuya there was no sign of the new Radiohead Album. Hard to describe how radical that felt to me. The missing Radiohead-CD just made the whole store look like history to me.

This is no marketing trick. It's the future right there, for free.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:55:36 +0000

What do you think about the actual downloading process from Radiohead's site?

It still requires a bit of personal information and, even while free, is not as easy as BitTorrent.

Also, downloaders who weren't going to pay anyways actually feel a bit better by torrenting and not impacting Radiohead's bandwidth bill.

By: konnexus

konnexus — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:57:19 +0000

as i see it this is more a first-takes-it-all thing. like the One Million Dollar Homepage. of course the ultimatum games of game theory have proven that we are not only the “homo sapiens economicus”. but still i expect radiohead’s followers to earn by far less.