Radiohead's new album . . . online?
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
I don't know how many of you are Radiohead fans (I'll be the first to tell you, BlueDev is not, so he's not going to care about this news), but the big news came out today - new Radiohead!
And in a very weird way . . .
Radiohead finished their deal with EMI after their last record, Hail to the Thief (2004). And they've been silent ever since. Frontman Thom Yorke put out a solo album, The Eraser (2006), that initially I liked, but with subsequent listens I've been less excited by it.
But still, those of us who remembered the grandeur of Kid A (2000) waited with baited breath.
And the news was released today. The new album, In Rainbows, will be released on the band's website as a digital album. No actual pressing of the normal album.
But here's the really weird part - you get to decide how much you want to pay for the album.
Yes, that's right, rather than charging a set price for the digital tracks (which will be released as 320 kbps mp3s), you can put in exactly how much you think the album is worth to you. Nothing? A buck? Five? Twenty? It's all on you, man.
It's innovative for sure, and they have a large fanbase that'll cough up some quick dinero to support their favorite band. But I don't like to buy an album without hearing it first. So it would be difficult for me to purchase a digital album like that.
Plus, on YouTube I heard some concert performances of some of the new stuff, and I was nonplussed. It didn't sound as innovative or inventive as their last releases have been.
So I'm sure I'll download it from another torrent site and decide whether or not I'll send them some money. (It's like with the Pax Cecilia, an independent band that I'm really enamored with. They send out their CD for free, and after I received my album, I loved it so much I donated to the band. That's basically how I feel about this new Radiohead album.)
But when artists as popular as Radiohead do things like this - pie in the face of the record companies - it kinda makes you wonder how much longer they can monopolize the industry.
Just a thought.
(Check the story out here.)
And in a very weird way . . .
Radiohead finished their deal with EMI after their last record, Hail to the Thief (2004). And they've been silent ever since. Frontman Thom Yorke put out a solo album, The Eraser (2006), that initially I liked, but with subsequent listens I've been less excited by it.
But still, those of us who remembered the grandeur of Kid A (2000) waited with baited breath.
And the news was released today. The new album, In Rainbows, will be released on the band's website as a digital album. No actual pressing of the normal album.
But here's the really weird part - you get to decide how much you want to pay for the album.
Yes, that's right, rather than charging a set price for the digital tracks (which will be released as 320 kbps mp3s), you can put in exactly how much you think the album is worth to you. Nothing? A buck? Five? Twenty? It's all on you, man.
It's innovative for sure, and they have a large fanbase that'll cough up some quick dinero to support their favorite band. But I don't like to buy an album without hearing it first. So it would be difficult for me to purchase a digital album like that.
Plus, on YouTube I heard some concert performances of some of the new stuff, and I was nonplussed. It didn't sound as innovative or inventive as their last releases have been.
So I'm sure I'll download it from another torrent site and decide whether or not I'll send them some money. (It's like with the Pax Cecilia, an independent band that I'm really enamored with. They send out their CD for free, and after I received my album, I loved it so much I donated to the band. That's basically how I feel about this new Radiohead album.)
But when artists as popular as Radiohead do things like this - pie in the face of the record companies - it kinda makes you wonder how much longer they can monopolize the industry.
Just a thought.
(Check the story out here.)
