You may have heard that Radiohead recently released a new recording. Currently, it is only available as a download from their website. This is no longer a new concept but what is unusual is that the price is up to the consumer. It's up to you to choose not only how much you're willing to pay but if you want to pay all. When I first heard about this I thought it was a pretty cool idea. Probably because if I was going to buy the download, I would be willing to spend a few bucks on it. I have never understood the mentality that music should be free. The artists spend money producing the recording, shouldn't they be able to make a little something from it?
I was very disappointed to read in a CBC article that 62% of people who downloaded Radiohead's In Rainbows choose to pay nothing for it. Seriously? Would these people have downloaded it if it wasn't free? Are they Radiohead fans? Do these people have any respect for working musicians? This figure really pisses me off on so many levels but mostly because it shows that our society in general has little respect for artists. I can only hope that when Radiohead releases the physical CD in December, that those freeloaders shell out the cash that the band deserves for their work.
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Yeah I heard about that. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. CD prices are mad really and it seemed like they were giving back to their fans. But they got ripped off. At least they aren't desperate for the money seeing as they've already made it.
Not amazingly respectful though. Maybe they should have gone with a few set options. A couple of quid for a 'bare' album with just songs. A few more for some extra songs and art, and then more for everything they could fit on. More flexible but nobody can take the mickey with downloads.
After I wrote the post, I heard that the CD they will be releasing next month is not the same as the download they have been offering. Apparently it's a double CD with all sorts of bonus stuff. The download is 10 tunes. So maybe this is the problem. Maybe the die hard fans are waiting to purchase the CD package and didn't want to pay for the same stuff twice. I guess we'll see what happens when the physical disc comes out.
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