David Emery OnlineIn Rainbows
1 October 2007
v
v
v
v
v
v
Stereogum: New Radiohead In Rainbows Out October 10th
v
v
v
Radiohead To Journalists: You’ll Get Your “In Rainbows” MP3s When Everyone Else Does
v
v
v
v
v
v
I always wonder, in situations like these – say an Apple product announcement, for example – whether I should actually bother writing anything at all. Whether all that needs to be said has already been said by people better qualified to say it.
This move by Radiohead is quite brilliant.
But – and this is a big but – it is not revolutionary, unlike what many people would have you believe.
It’s the logical conclusion of the way the industry has been moving ever since Napster first became popular. In fact, I would have been more surprised if Radiohead had traditionally released ‘In Rainbows’. That’s not to say this isn’t an audacious move, or a game changer, as it is, but it’s hardly the most inventive exercise ever.
The core concept around this is leak prevention – in fact, they seem to have to taken leak protection to the ultimate extreme. Not only are they releasing the download before the physical version goes into manufacture, to ensure that it doesn’t leak that way, they’re giving away the download for free. Of course, they’ve waited free down with a hefty moral decision by making you type all those zeros into the price box, but it’s still free.
Even if you want to “steal” this album, Radiohead still wants you to take part in the Radiohead experience.
The ultra-deluxe edition is also unsurprising; Radiohead has a long history of special deluxe album editions (I own most of them) and this one is a nice way of letting the fans that want to spend a lot spend a lot, without feeling too guilty about it. Radiohead have probably hundreds of thousands of fans who are willing to spend £40, so why not give them a decent excuse?
Onto the point I’ve read in many places that the record labels must be really scared by such a high profile artist completely bypassing the traditional label structure: simply, they won’t be. For a start, how many bands as big as Radiohead, with a fanbase that would respond to a internet campaign like this, do you know? A record label is half publicity and marketing, and Radiohead don’t seem to need any help in that regard. Secondly, they still seem to be partnering with a label (although it doesn’t seem to be decided yet) to do a traditional release of ‘In Rainbows’ next year, so the other traditional use of a label – distribution – seems to be alive and kicking.
Oh and I do love the decision to not send out any copies to media – “everyone gets it at the same time”. The way it should be, and I’m glad in this case someone is setting a precedent (although it’s been happening more and more recently anyway). The mainstream media has been well overdue for a fall – too smug, too entitled and too privileged.
After all this, I do hope the music lives up to the hype.