In Rainbows
After the excitement of the new Radiohead release, In Rainbows, many fans and industry folk have been anxiously watching how well it will do with their new ‘honesty box’ scheme that allows listeners to name their price. You’d have to be living under a rock to not know this of course, but it has sparked a lot of discussion about how this will affect the music industry.
Interestingly, I’ve been told that 1/3 of listeners of ‘In Rainbows’ have downloaded the album illegally – despite being able to download it legally for as little as 1p. Is that because of laziness? Some of my friends downloaded it illegally on the basis they couldn’t be bothered to reach for their credit card, no matter how little it could cost them. Others argued that they wanted to hear it first to decide how much they think it’s worth paying for. Fair enough, in the latter case, it might have been worth Radiohead offering the album to stream at www.inrainbows.com before users can decide… but in their position, I don’t think they’re really bothered. They’re probably just interested to see what would happen when they can defy the entire music industry.
And all the while, many other artists are now dropping out of major record labels and going it ‘alone’. It’s easy to think “oh well, these bands have already made their money, so it’s easy for them to cut the middleman out”, but I’ve now come to the conclusion that many of us ‘unsigned’ acts are doing what these major artists might have done if they had the same opportunities we did 15 or so years ago. The only problem is the over-bombardment or artists out there. Many are shit, or if they are good, they don’t have the same marketing team they might have with a bigger label to promote them in such a way that people will come and listen to them. Money now depends on live performance and merchandising among other things.
I haven’t made any efforts to sell Passion/Aggression other than the online streaming. But these recent developments are making me want to sit tight just a little longer to see how this drastic change in the industry will play out. I have no obligations to do anything, so I may as well use this time wisely. That being said, I might just put the album out anyway on some digital distributor and be more ‘creative’ for any future efforts. I really oughta do something soon before I lose motivation. I’m actually quite inspired right now, but unable to do anything about it.
Oh, ‘In Rainbows’ rocks, by the way.
Interestingly, I’ve been told that 1/3 of listeners of ‘In Rainbows’ have downloaded the album illegally – despite being able to download it legally for as little as 1p. Is that because of laziness? Some of my friends downloaded it illegally on the basis they couldn’t be bothered to reach for their credit card, no matter how little it could cost them. Others argued that they wanted to hear it first to decide how much they think it’s worth paying for. Fair enough, in the latter case, it might have been worth Radiohead offering the album to stream at www.inrainbows.com before users can decide… but in their position, I don’t think they’re really bothered. They’re probably just interested to see what would happen when they can defy the entire music industry.
And all the while, many other artists are now dropping out of major record labels and going it ‘alone’. It’s easy to think “oh well, these bands have already made their money, so it’s easy for them to cut the middleman out”, but I’ve now come to the conclusion that many of us ‘unsigned’ acts are doing what these major artists might have done if they had the same opportunities we did 15 or so years ago. The only problem is the over-bombardment or artists out there. Many are shit, or if they are good, they don’t have the same marketing team they might have with a bigger label to promote them in such a way that people will come and listen to them. Money now depends on live performance and merchandising among other things.
I haven’t made any efforts to sell Passion/Aggression other than the online streaming. But these recent developments are making me want to sit tight just a little longer to see how this drastic change in the industry will play out. I have no obligations to do anything, so I may as well use this time wisely. That being said, I might just put the album out anyway on some digital distributor and be more ‘creative’ for any future efforts. I really oughta do something soon before I lose motivation. I’m actually quite inspired right now, but unable to do anything about it.
Oh, ‘In Rainbows’ rocks, by the way.
posted by Angelchrome at 3:21 pm
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