Image source: In Rainbows
Way back in 1999, Public Enemy released “There’s a Poison Goin’ On” only on the internet, with indie label Atomic Pop. After sluggish sales, they eventually sold a CD version as well. I applauded PE for their efforts, although it wasn’t surprising with the outcome. Broadband penetration was much lower and PE has past it’s peak of popularity. Eight years later, the internet is buzzing with Radiohead’s announcement that they are releasing their latest record, In Rainbows, without a label. You can buy the disc set at a pricey £40.00 ($USD 80) or pay whatever you want for the download.
Of course, Radiohead is in a better position to do sometime like this kind of experiment, after having sold millions of records and toured extensively throughout the world. I’m sure the die- hard fans (of which there are many) will purchase the disc set. However, after Thom Yorke’s last album was circulating the internet months before its official release, Radiohead figures to try to recoup some of the lost revenue from p2p file sharing.
I paid £2.50. There is a £0.45 credit card process fee, which they only tell you about at the end of your purchase. I’ll give them a “free pass” on that one.
I got the download code, and will be able to get the album starting on October 10th. I’ll probably wait a few days, because I’m sure that their servers will be clogged at first. I’m not in a rush, as my Radiohead interest peaked a few years ago (I bought Amnesiac on the day it was released.)
I would love to see the numbers, and the distribution of what people’s willingness to pay for the album. It isn’t clear if this is sustainable for other bands, even famous ones. Radiohead is getting a lot of free press for being the first. The 10th band who tries this, won’t have the added benefit of extra publicity. I mean, I’m writing about buying an album on the internet.
I’m sure it will be available on the internet for free the day it is released. I could have gotten activation code for free as well, but I want to reward them for their efforts. I’m also buying the album for $USD5, which is actually how much it is actually worth to me. Although, it may be not be “rational” in the purely short term economic sense, I definitely wanted to reward Radiohead for working in this way.
There’s an interesting discussion here by an annoying cultural economics blogger, Tyler Cowen:
http://onthemedia.org/episodes/2007/10/05/segments/86709
Transcript should be up soon. Anyway, he tries to defend the major labels’ role as gatekeepers and investors in new acts, and says RH is only in a position to do this b/c they have been established by big labels.
I doubt that, and he gives away the game by conceding that RH’s imposed fee on the downloads themselves is likely more than they woudl get per cd on a standard record industry contract royalty. How long will bands continue supporting the lavish lifestyles of label royalty and taking pennies on the dollar for each cd sold????? hail to the radiohead!