What Radiohead Hath Wrought

It took just one band to get the ball rolling. Following Radiohead’s release of In Rainbows via direct download from the band’s website, other acts have announced similar intentions.
Trent Reznor, posting on the Nine Inch Nails website, says the band is now free of any recording contract with any label. “I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate. Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008. Exciting times, indeed.”
Oasis and Jamiroquai are also said to be considering following Radiohead by offering their new recordings on a “pay what you like” basis.
And Madonna is reported today to be leaving her long-time Warner Bros. Records label for a deal with the concert promotion firm Live Nation, which would digitally distribute three new studio albums.
Early reports are that Radiohead’s ploy was a huge success, with many fans opting to pre-order the full $80 discbox set besides downloading the digital tracks. Clearly fans will pay for music when they know that the artist—and not some overpaid suit at a record label—stands to benefit.
Sure, many people chose to pay nothing for the digital tracks as had been expected, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, there are other purposes for Radiohead’s plan than earning money. For one, when you download the digital music, you give your e-mail address and other details before you get the download link. This is priceless information to a marketer. In another sense, it also helps the band determine where its strongest support comes from.
It will be exciting to see how this whole thing plays out. The mainstream recording industry has little to do with music anymore and everything to do with profit. If more bands jump on board, the music industry as we know it could change dramatically. And it would be a welcome change.