Radiohead In Rainbows
if you are radiohead fan like me then no doubt you have already pre-purchased their next album 'In Rainbows' for ...whatever price you like.
Its a cool talking point, and an interesting way to distribute music. It's also a nice way to build a relationship with your fans and include them in the production of an album. I imagine it will work well for radiohead - a high profile band with a loyal following. Would it work for other bands though...I wonder.
Apparently thom york said this to a Time journalist recently "I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one. And, yes, it probably would give us some perverse pleasure to say 'F___ you' to this decaying business model."
You might remember I blogged about sellaband a while ago - a website that allows fans (or believers as they call them) to prebuy and (in doing so) pay for the production of an album. When a band has 5000 believers, they can take that money and make the album they want to make, cut out the record label. I heard an update on a BBC podcast the other day, they are doing well, with eight bands at the stage where they are able to record an album.
Not a solution that has tipped over into the masses yet...but it does make me question, are we the fans the new record label? Is the power of production now with us? This relates to the film industry too btw. Does this mean that slowly but surely we get to see/ hear what we want, rather than what we are told we want?
By michelle, 4 years, 7 months ago