Radiohead’s unconventional distribution of In Rainbows
Anyone who has at least a semblance of good taste in music will most probably be listening to Radiohead’s newest album right now. In Rainbows was released a few days ago on their official website — and yes, you cheap mofo, the electronic version can be had for free if you want.
Radiohead is testing the limits of indie style distribution and publicity with In Rainbows. First of all, marketing the album is very unconventional in that the existence of the album was only announced a couple of weeks before its actual release. Then there is the fact that the band has left it up to its fans to decide how much they want to pay for the album. Yup, you can get it for free if you’re cheap (a physical boxed set of the album will be made available this December though). This simple decision alone has left the recording industry reeling from the ramifications of Radiohead’s move. Even though the band is not the first one to really explore the avenues of self distribution (Prince and Ani DiFranco have done it before), their decision has, nonetheless, bode ill tidings for the well established (and creatively stifling) corporate setup. If Radiohead succeeds in this endeavor it could signal the death of the music industry as we know it. Radiohead would have sent a clear signal that the middleman could now be cut off and the artist can now directly communicate and distribute his music to his fans.
I hope this is an experiment that Radiohead succeeds in.
November 1st, 2007 at 5:41 pm
[…] whose articles I am a frequent reader of, has had some great commentary on the Radiohead “controversy” in the past couple of weeks (as well as the emerging “controversy” regarding […]