Radiohead Won’t Be Repeating Free Album Download | ‘In Rainbows’ Was A One Off
Radiohead pioneered the idea of music artists forging their own path, without the need for record labels controlling everything, when they decided to allow their fans to pay what they deemed suitable for the In Rainbows album download last year.
Since then, many bands have taken up the mantle, with Prince and Nine Inch Nails the biggest names to be experimenting.
Even boring old Coldplay have seen huge support for their decision to release a single free over the Internet.
But however successful and innovative the move was, it seems that Radiohead aren’t planning on repeating it any time soon, with rontman Thom Yorke telling The Hollywood Reporter:
“I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation,” Yorke said of the band’s downloading policy for the album “In Rainbows.”
“It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do. I don’t think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time.”
This is terrible news, as I really thought Radiohead were going to be leading the call for a revolution to occur in how music was distributed to fans.
When they left their last record label EMI, they bemoaned how profits were being eaten up by the company, and how the music industry needed a shake-up. They did exactly that with In Rainbows, but rather than carry on the good work, it seems they want to just go back to the old way of doing things.
The music industry as we now know it is slowly dying on it’s ass, with music piracy more widespread than ever. What we need is a new solution, one which rewards the artists for their creative efforts while giving music lovers a fair deal. I really thought Radiohead would be spearheading the new way of doing things, but in the end, it seems they have just sold out again.
[Photo Source: Amazon.co.uk]
Tags: , British, Coldplay, EMI, In-Rainbows, Music Industry, Music Label, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Thom-Yorke, Trent Reznor, UKRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Albums, Alternative, Announcements, Downloads, Indie, News, Op Ed, Radiohead
1 opinion for Radiohead Won’t Be Repeating Free Album Download | ‘In Rainbows’ Was A One Off
Gerard @ Unreality Music
May 2, 2008 at 4:17 am
Maybe I’m just a professional cynic Dave, but I had a feeling this was a stunt from the get-go. All that “Radiohead leading the revolution” crap on Digg and elsewhere, when it was just an elaborate publicity stunt.
Shame on Radiohead. I didn’t need another reason *not* to like them.
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