A Year After Radiohead's Gamble, Where Do We Go Now? was a top story for this week. Here it is again: (Guest Editorial) We are pleased today to present you with a guest editorial from someone who is in the trenches of the digital revolution of the music business. While the traditional music business is still largely stuck in a 20th century mindset and fighting the digital future while they should be embracing it, the indies are looking at ways to harness the change and opportunities of the changing landscape, so they can lead the music business into the 21st century. Alex Grange is the CEO of a company that is taking on conventional thinking and trying to open the doors for unsigned artists to buck the system and succeed. Time will tell is he will be successful but today Alex give us his vision for the future of the music business. "Radiohead revisited: how their unorthodox release kick started the digital distribution revolution" by Alex Grange: October 10, 2008 marks the one year anniversary of Radiohead's "In Rainbows," which was initially released as a digital download, and immediately thereafter, as a standard CD. The album was released in North America on January 1, 2008. In Rainbows was Radiohead's first release after the end of their contract with EMI and the end of the longest gap between studio albums in their career.
In Rainbows innovated a new way that music could be distributed online. This was a release that smacked the face-of convention, and took a bold step towards the future of independent distribution.
Some say it was brilliant. Others like Trent Reznor called it a "Bait and Switch." Whatever the case, now in its aftermath, we are left with the burning question: what is the future of music distribution? The simple answer of course is, "it is always changing."
Radiohead revolutionized the independent distribution model. By allowing listeners to determine the value of their blood, sweat, and tears, our very consumerist society was turned on its head. Radiohead offered their album online for three months at an open rate.
In the spirit of experimentation, people were encouraged to pay what they thought a fair price would be for the download. According to ComScore, many listeners offered approximately $6 for the CD. Some priced the album lower, some substantially higher, and yet others deemed downloading the CD at no cost was their right as a Web user.
Radiohead is not the first band on the planet to exploit the promises of the Internet and online distribution, but they were the first world renowned rock stars to do it. As one of the first major label bands to kick-start the model of online distribution, Radiohead's unprecedented experiment raised discussion in the music industry about the viability of the Internet as the latest musical distribution tool. - more
