Go Radiohead, Go
Most people have probably heard about Radiohead’s latest album, In Rainbows, and their pay-what-you-think-its-worth price plan, but if you’ve missed it, the gist is this: they decided to make their own album and sell it online without going through a regular publishing company. Honestly, the graphics on the website alone are worth checking out, and I slapped down my four pounds sterling to download my copy of the album as soon as possible.
Well, evidently I’m not alone. The word on the street is that they had over 1.2 million downloads in the first week, at an average sales price of $8 each.
The RIAA certification for ‘Platinum’ is 1 million album sales, so it is probably safe to say that Radiohead has self-produced and distributed a platinum album without having to pay the majority of their sales revenue to a major label. I think that this is amazing and great, and I totally applaud them.
This is why we made IMP. Good art can stand on its own and people will gladly reward the artists for the work they share with us. The degree to which the music industry exploits its artists is ridiculous, and the model has changed. With luck, perhaps the bottom feeders will eventually drop out of the market given an absence of easy money.
Thank you, Radiohead.
Addendum: Radiohead’s manager has been quoted as saying that this was done in an effort to boost cd sales. Fantastic.
Others have also stated that Radiohead is simply trying to profit from the inevitable online piracy that was sure to coincide with their album release.
Also fantastic.
I like this band. I want them to make money. If you can still go to their website and download the entire album (even at ’substandard’ audio quality), why act like you’re being cheated by the band because they are offering you the opportunity to do so at no cost?