1 October 07 | tags: music |
Radiohead's 'In Rainbows'
I might have some issues with their site design, but I think Radiohead's new album marketing is all sorts of brilliant.
If you haven't heard yet, here's the deal: Radiohead just announced the release of their new album, which will drop in ten days. They will be offering a physical boxed set plus a digital download. And the download is priced as much as you want. Seriously. Including free. And, just to drive home the point of whom this type of business is going to enrage the most, the band is doing this entirely free of a record label.
I just pre-ordered the download for a lot less than I probably would have paid otherwise, but I did want to make sure I paid something - if only as a token of support. This isn't the perfect business model for all musicians right now, but it's a step in the right direction of making both piracy and the RIAA completely unnecessary.
But - that website. It's like someone's younger brother created it back in 1996 and kept it around on the hard drive just in case they suddenly decided to put out an album in a few days and needed to slap a site up in a hurry. And it's buggy. So, one step forward for digital music marketing, one step backward for web design.
It also occurs to me that another champion of digital music, Trent Reznor, traditionally has had, IMO, annoyingly bad sites too. Is it just not cool enough to have a correctly-functioning and aesthetically-pleasing website?
Comment
Kevin | 1 October, 05:40 PM | #
I love they are doing this. It’s a great model and lets hope that others follow suit.
Of course not having a record label and being able to make your own decisions helps.
Brinstar | 2 October, 02:11 AM | #
I hope Radiohead do well with this.
Jen | 2 October, 05:19 AM | #
I know Reznor has publicly stated plans to do something similar once he is free of his own contract, so hopefully it’ll catch on as a trend.