It's been nearly 4 years since the last Radiohead album 'Hail for the Thief'. While I enjoyed that album as I've generally enjoyed most of what they've produced, The Bends and Ok Computer being the zenith of their output as far as I'm concerned, their new album 'In Rainbows' is a completely different beast altogether.
The major difference here is the way in which they've decided to distribute their album. See they've decided not to go the traditional route and release the album via a label. Instead what they've decided to do is let you download it off their website. Nothing new there, right? Ah but here's the catch. YOU decide how much you actually want to pay for it. You can either pay something, or download it for free.
This turns everything on it's head as far as I'm concerned. I've always claimed that the price of music is completely and utterly extorionate. A tiny teeny fraction of the cost of what you pay actually goes to the creators themselves, instead the majority goes to everyone else around. £12 for an album is just too much. So download it you say and just keep the music? You obviously don't know me very well. When it comes to music from my favourite bands I will buy the CD. It's just the way it goes. For me it's not just the music, it's the package. It's the entire experience. I'm also a collector of sorts. I like to have physical copies of material by certain bands. I own a proper CD player and Amp that I paid through my nose to get a better sound. If you think that you can't tell the difference, then you've obviously not heard a proper system in action.
Sure, this might be something of a dinosaur mentality however it's one of those thought processes that I honestly cannot get away from. The thing is Radiohead are known for the amount of effort and creativity that they put into their package as well. They obviously feel the same way about this sort of thing, otherwise we wouldn't have the school library book for Amnesiac or the Map for Hail to the Thief. Case in point, in addition to the actual download option, there's also the option to pre-order the physical edition of this album, which comes with 2 CDs with artwork, photographs, lyrics and 2 Vinyls of the material as well. All encased in a hardcover book and slipcase.
I've only just found out about all this, since I only found out yesterday that they've got a new album out. So I quickly downloaded the album (more on that in a little while). Is it any good? The short answer is that 'In Rainbows' is BRILLIANT. It's one of the best things I've heard this year, and this is a year where the Smashing Pumpkins released their return to form album. It's a mixture of 'The Bends', 'Ok Computer' and maybe even a little bit of 'Pablo Honey'. It's not this heavy rock album. It's a glass of fine wine, where the drums and guitars are back. Yorke's voice is crisp and clear over the music in this perfect mixture that only they can achieve. God it's great to hear well produced music again.
So back to the download versus physical object question, what am I going to do? Well I've already downloaded the album for free, and have ordered the physical edition of the album as well.
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With all the nonsense that is written about the death of the music industry it's good to know that real fans of real music are happy to pay for a high quality product.
Ashley, I've got to say that I do feel that the music industry is not what it used to be 10 years ago. I can't seem to find new and exciting music to be honest with you. While I've written about this before it's something that really does irritate me as I'm definitely someone that needs to have his music fix if I'm going to get on and do anything creative in my life, or hell even go to sleep (can't sleep without having some background music).
It's only the bands that I listened to while I was in school and at University that are still worth listening to as far as I'm concerned with very little new stuff reaching my ears (I've tried pandora, and last.fm, and neither have really struck a cord). The closest I've gotten to is listening to Radio Paradise which I've found to be excellent in general.
Also, it is because you are getting old. No offense, it is happening to me too. I can't remember how many times I have said "This music is just soulless noise" and "Pop music is dead".
My parents used to say the same thing, and so did theirs.
But I agree the (radio) scene ain't what it used to be. But there are great bands out there, so much music to explore.
One artist off the top of my head? Ever check out Bonnie Prince Billy?
PS Love the blue!
David said:
See the thing is I've thought about this before, but I've been saying this since fekkin Britney spears reared her white trash little school girl uniform ass onto MTV and destroyed things as we knew it up until then. That was ten years ago. The thing is though there used to be a couple of really good stations in Athens that used to be extremely informative, which is a shame that their online presence is so pants that I can't really appreciate that stuff again.
Hehe, thanks the blue is not here to stay. Wait for another month or so and we'll be in with something pretty different and yet very much the same :)
I agree about the trojan horse that was Britney and her contemporaries. We let her in and now we are stuck with it.
I have been looking for some decent radio internet stations, but with the likes of http://www.pandora.com/ (and a proxy) it is hard to go wrong.
I really like the way Radiohead plays.. I loved their new cd! Have you seen when they covered The Smiths? The band sang The Headmaster Ritual in a webcast. Here is the video: weshow.com/us/p/23339/radiohead_the_headmaster_ritual_live
They are great aren't they? :D
Khaled, I agree with you, the music industry is very different now. What we are seeing now has been a growing trend for a long time. Its only now becoming really public (mainstream TV new public) because big artists are jumping on the bandwagon and ditching the labels that have fed them. The radiohead thing is something which brings a wry smile to my face. They are happy to take from the label when it suits them but then as soon as the public start to be anti-major-label they start trying to be all independent again. Its easy to be altruistic as a musician when a major label has spent the last 10 years making you rich.
I'm a jazz trumpet player and I also run a small independent record label along with a couple of other musicians. What we are hearing more and more is that the genuine music lovers are no longer happy to pay hard earned cash to record companies when it is clear that most of this money is not going to the artist.
Worse still, most of that money is probably propping up non-musicians (Britney, boy-bands, etc. etc.) who happen to be on the same label as the artist whose material they have purchased.
This is a double edged sword. Very bad for the non-musicians who can't sponge off the labels anymore, but very good for independent musicians and artist run labels.
Our customers are happy to pay a fair price for music on our label because, in my opinion, they know that the money is going to the artist. They see it as fair.
At the moment things are still financially biased towards the big labels because they have the marketing power. A colleague of mine once described it as giving the masses a choice between eating paper or cardboard. If the masses only think paper and cardboard exists then they will have to eat one or the other. Its only when they discover real food (real music) that they can make a choice.
if it was even remotely possible, the second disc of this album is generating more utility for me, comparatively.
sublime.
it is feeble to imply that a record company has made proverbially made a band rich. case in point, you sign a 6 album record deal, you fulfill that deal in no discerning fashion and progress.
it is quite obvious that the method of initial sale was pure marketing agenda culminating in the triumvirate of the consumer, the band and the internet as an entity outdoing any regular pitch - much like a viral method.
any fan of digital music will tell you that downloading an album at 160kpbs is akin to listening to the muffled sound of meat being grilled. it is far more than just having the physical pleasure of owning the album.
and khaled, i am perplexed at how you seem to have dismissed kid a and amnesiac as any art form in your post, both of which i rate vastly superior to the bends and ok computer. the latter two were surely muted in originality and only came to the fore because of their assessable nature.
apologies for the little rant, i've completely lost track of the initial point of this post.