Radiohead – In Rainbows November 16, 2007 9:08 am 
Internet/Blogging

Have you been following the Radiohead story? I admit, I felt a jolt of excitement when I first heard they’d put their new album up for sale on a pay-as-you-wish system. I knew they’d make money and cheered them on.

Have they been successful? The news is mixed. It’s been a closely watched experiment. You can read a confusing but interesting story about the results on the Editors Weblog.

From what I can tell… Radiohead has made some money. But the percentage of downloaders who paid for the album versus those who downloaded it for free is very low. So the experiment’s reinforced the widening cultural norm that it’s OK to download music for free.

I know there’s been some talk lately about a new business model for musicians. That musicians should look for success by selling t-shirts and concert tickets after giving away music for free. I don’t know about you, but it’s profoundly disappointing to me to see the primary creative product – the music – be so devalued when I know how much time and care it takes to create.

Who benefits from a system in which all digitizeable content is available for free? Google? The academic establishment? I don’t know. But the arrow seems pointed away from creators.

I’m still cheering for Radiohead and wish them every success. But not without some curiosity and concern. The “content should be free” model is a hip one to espouse, but can it provide sustenance to the musicians, writers, filmmakers – all artists – who create it? The jury’s still out. I’m watching closely…

More thoughts to follow next week…

2 Comments »
rebekah wrote November 16, 2007 @ 7:28 pm

If artists wish to have control over the exchange value of their work, whether they are the famous Radiohead or an unknown, it is heartening to know they can take back that control. The survey looked at 2 million folks who allowed their interaction to be counted and they were from around the world; two important pieces of info there: (1) 2 million is a lot of listeners and that’s only part of the picture (though they don’t tell us how big a part), and (2) this is a global effort, which is new in that it is not only the wealthy US consumer who can have this music but anyone with access to the internet (which still rules out folks, of course, who probably don’t know of or care about Radiohead anyway). In fact, the consumer designation in the article is insulting – people do not consume music, music stays with you; it is only the business model that makes human beings ever the Consumer. The CEO of Taxi who is quoted as pointing out they were famous first, “He notes that Radiohead has been able to build a fan base of millions while being bankrolled by their former label for the past 15 years.” He forgets that it is the MUSIC of Radiohead that people love and have PAID megabucks for. The band stopped being bankrolled over a decade ago when their Consumer paid more and more and more to continue to listen to their music. Where does the record company think the money keeps coming from? Sure, there was an initial investment but the ongoing costs are paid for by the fans. Wake up. Some bands are built on giant marketing efforts, some bands are built on their music and this is one of the latter. We are interconnected and it seems to me that Radiohead decided to alter their connections to be more direct with their audiences. Perhaps they don’t need to make more money but they need to make more music. Music as a business may not be all bad but it is distasteful when it is ONLY a business. I think Radiohead is putting music in perspective and good for them for using their hard-earned privilege to do it.

Laura wrote November 17, 2007 @ 10:29 am

Yes! I’m with you! It IS heartening to see artists take control over the exchange value of their work. Alas, I wonder what the future holds when “taking control” also means “mostly giving away for free.”

It sounds like Radiohead’s going to do alright this time around. I’d love to hear how the experiment’s gone from their POV. And I’m rooting for them! But wondering about next time too. What’s in store for all us creators (writers, filmmakers, etc…) as more and more copyrighted content migrates to the web?

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