New Radiohead album gives smug music thieves sense of moral high ground

[JP]

So radiohead are releasing their new record via download or an $80 set.  They are letting people set their own price for the digital download.  For some reason this sort of bothers me because it is fine for them but I think it's going to make people think they can download anything they want now.

It also a little "Apple" for me with the surprise release thing.

Anyway, it's all very exciting and it's hard for me to cope at the moment.

JP

[chrisfoll577]

as a radiohead fan, i couldn't be happier with this decision.  if any band can pull off breaking away from the major label system, it's radiohead.

if it wasn't for the weak dollar and my lack of a turntable, i'd buy the disc set. i think i agree with JP about the sense of entitlement this will give bittorrent and usenet downloaders, i for one will pay over the market rate, partially out of guilt since kid a actually introduced me to napster seven years ago.

im not quite sure if this means one of 'dem "paradigm shifts" or if it's just a one-off shot by a popular yet radically independent band with the power to do such a thing.

now bring on the tour!

[JP]

What ticks me off further, and I hadn't entirely processed until now, is that the $80 version has a disk 2 with

CD 2
MK 1
DOWN IS THE NEW UP
GO SLOWLY
MK 2
LAST FLOWERS
UP ON THE LADDER
BANGERS AND MASH
4 MINUTE WARNING

that isn't available for download as far as I can tell.

What if I want these songs, why didn't they make those available to buy via download?

[Chris L]

The way I understand it is, all of this is going to be released in "regular" format next year (I assume disc 2 will end up as b-sides and such), but they're in effect "leaking it" themselves to beat the bootleggers (mp3leggers?) to the punch, while also giving the cheapskates/allegedly poor the chance to get the regular album for free. 

I just hope the box set comes with an actual rainbow.

[erika]

What if I want these songs, why didn't they make those available to buy via download?

It appears that you're a smug music buyer.

You think they should make everything available to download... be happy with what you get. They're breaking ground by even offering the download in the first place. Most bands wouldn't go that far.

Name your own price? I have nothing to complain about here. I think it's a great idea. I'm sure if I want the b-side discs I can get my hands on them sometime next year after this has been around for a while. And if I have to order them and have a physical CD delivered to my house, then that's OK. Because I like their music so much it's worth it.

[JP]

What if I want these songs, why didn't they make those available to buy via download?

It appears that you're a smug music buyer.

You think they should make everything available to download... be happy with what you get. They're breaking ground by even offering the download in the first place. Most bands wouldn't go that far.

Name your own price? I have nothing to complain about here. I think it's a great idea. I'm sure if I want the b-side discs I can get my hands on them sometime next year after this has been around for a while. And if I have to order them and have a physical CD delivered to my house, then that's OK. Because I like their music so much it's worth it.

I guess I can't "complain" per se, I guess I just wish the new model was more complete in terms of being exactly how I wish it were.  I hope that there is a time when anything that has ever been released by any band in any country is available to buy at a price that is in line with what other music costs.  For example, why are the out-of-print records when they don't have to print them any more?  I have a stolen copy of Bumper Crop that makes me feel guilty.

I am not into records that are exclusive or rare physical goods.  I also try not to steal music so I either begrudgingly fork out the $15 to buy the one b-side song or I go without.  I've just always hoped there were more people with in the middle who like music and don't care if it is "exclusive."

I think the name your own price is good fun as well, but I think people might apply that doctrine to whatever they want to - even if the band isn't interested in doing in that way.  For example, I don't think I should choose "oh hey tom yeah I just downloaded hippie justice and I think it worth 4 dollars so here you are thanks!"  If artists want to give people that choice then fine, but if not it isn't up to the downloaders to decide - but they might infer that if it's good enough for radiohead it's good enough for whomever else.

[jane]

JP,
if somebody wants the second disc it'll probably be ripped and made available on bit torrent or uploaded to rapidshare or megaupload, right? 
You can probably get it immediately and won't have to wait a year, although I get that you don't want to have to steal it.
People already think they can download anything they want, don't you think?  I don't think asking people to set their own price will contribute to this.
Why is the set $80 anyway?  ridiculous.  $50, maybe?

[Gilly]

2 vinyl 2 cd's bonus stuff. I can see a lot of people spending 80 bucks for all that. I'm not one of them, but I'll probably float 5 bucks their way for the download. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to do that and that they'll make more money than going through a retailer (especially if they get enough people to go for the 80 dollar set). A lot of people will pay nothing for it as well, but they wouldn't have bought it anyway. Everyone who was planning on buying it will pay something for it, and a lot of people who had no intention of buying it will pay something for it just to support the idea....

Economics schmeconomics. There's a new Radiohead album coming out and I don't think anyone was expecting that so soon!

[Dorvid Barnas]

I have no use for the vinyl or artwork, so I think I'll give them about 30 bucks, download the 1st disc from them, and then "steal" the bonus disc when it hits the torrents.
Everyone wins, including the planet.

They're my very favorite band; I can't wait to hear this!

[Gilly]

30 bucks huh? That's more than I can afford to offer but I applaud you for going way above what most people will go.

[Dorvid Barnas]

I'm not trying to be smug or take the moral high ground, but 30 seems like a more than reasonable price to pay for 90+ minutes of music I'll be listening to for dozens of hours, especially since more of that money is going straight to the artists.  I figure a brand new double CD at Best Buy would be about 23 bucks - I just want to throw a couple of extra dollars to support this very bold, very interesting distribution model.  I certainly don't care if others pay less, even if it's less than what I think the band deserves.

[erika]

Everyone wins, including the planet.

Oh wow you make a great point. I didn't even think about how environmentally responsible they're being with allowing the download and making the cd/vinyl sets "to-order". That could avoid millions in production costs and waste. I really didn't think of it that way until now but that makes me even happier about this arrangement!

I, too intend to spend about 30 bucks on the download. Anything less than 10 seems like an insult to the band (just my opinion) and I'm a huge fan so it's worth it to me to send some additional cash their way to make up for those who won't bother giving anything.

[buffcoat]

I already had a sense of the moral high ground.  Now I'm just a little more smug.

[paul]

cool beans. i'll throw a few bones their way. sure, why not.

[JP]

I've gone through my bootleg versions of those songs and it seems like virtually all of the songs that were less interesting to me ended up on the 2nd disk (interesting how that works, although I wouldn't have necessarily chosen the songs for Kid A that they did based on the 2000 bootlegs, so what the hell do I know,) - anyway, it won't be as painful to save the $72 I saved by throwing 3.5 GBP + 45p transaction fee to buy only disk one (aka the actual album.)