www.inrainbows.com
This morning I heard about the new Radiohead record being available for download at a you-name-it price.
Immediately, I pointed my browser to radiohead.com but it took me some time to learn that inrainbows.com was the URL where the album could be retrieved, as long as you aren’t running Safari. Ugh.
I am 0:38 into “Videotape”, the final track. A(nother) great record from Jonny, Thom and company. Well worth the five quid I offered.
Nevermind the record industry. So if you are an artist and you have significant notoriety, it seems your reliance upon the traditional structure of the business has been compromised in your favor.
Go Directly to the Internet. Collect $200.
It’s likely that Trent Reznor is next to release an online record now that he has been released from Interscope. Pearl Jam is one album into an independent career; perhaps they could pull it off. Certainly the success of their live shows being available for download mere hours after show (sans artwork and liner notes) is evidence that the demand is there. Nowadays, being a music consumer requires a personal computer as much as money and headphones, so it’s about time that method of dissemination is utilized more fully.
Popularity: 16%
A lot of movement in this field lately. Madonna just made a similar, de facto announcement:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2007-10-11-foorbes-madonna_N.htm
“It appears that Madonna is closing in on a decision to walk away from Warner Music Group (WMG) once her contract is up. Rather than re-up with the major label that’s been her professional home for her entire career, the Material Girl is expected to sign a record deal with concert promoter Live Nation (LYV), the Journal reported Wednesday evening.”
It’s now officially “hip” to ditch labels, and halleluha to that.
It’s the beginning of the end for labels.
Another note from me, Negative Nellie — “ditching labels” has a long standing history. In the ’70s both the Stones and Zeppelin (two of the biggest mofo’s ever) ditched labels and started up their own enterprises to distribute music through (Rolling Stones Records and Swan Song respectively).
There’s also the long-standing tradition within independent rock & roll (attempting to avoid the indie-rock term which has been bastardized beyond belief and now signifies about as much as “grunge” or “punk”) of establishing one’s own label or simply seizing power of one’s own career.
Madonna, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam — they all owe their massive wealth, success, popularity, fame to the hard-working people at major labels who transformed them from art to consumer commodity. Lauding them now seems a bit odd, as I assume most of these groups probably don’t have to work a single day in their lives and could still live in mansions, etc. Their dissociation from the labels seem less an attack on the major label system (of which they are undeniable products), and more or less and matured desire to not have to deal with the pressures of popularity anymore. Good for them, of course.
But why not admire the Sun City Girls, Current 93, Ian MacKaye (and his assorted projects) for fostering entire careers which have rendered their members independent — but more importantly never, ever even having to get caught up in such discussions of “major” or “minor.”
I find people attacking major labels quite often and then you ask, “So what do you listen to?” Most of the bands which pop up are on major, subsidiaries of majors, etc and were probably heard initially on radio or by friends who listen to other stuff.
Radiohead’s boxset is still being sold for an expensive $80 plus (for only a couple of records and a CD/bonus CD).
I was 13 when the CD as a format was introduced, and the price of one was about $15. The industry promised the prices of cd’s would come down as manufacturing capacity and demand increased, and the laws of economics took over.
But that didn’t happen. They kept the prices up because they could. Compact Discs and the packaging, when produced by big labels, costs about $.80.
How much of that $15+ retail price do artists get? Maybe a dollar.
Labels? Fuck em. Can’t wait for the funeral.
And this doesn’t even touch on the restrictions imposed (by law!) on us as owners of compact discs. The labels fought tooth and nail to keep us from legally BACKING UP our music. They want us to have one copy and if it gets scratched — ooops — they’ll be happy to sell you another.
Rant over.
I totally agree with the ridiculous pricing. Somehow the shit went up! I remember when Napster first started and people begin singing the death hymns to CDs, most CDs (as are now) cost about $18 new — which is fucking ridiculous. One of the majors reduced the max of their catalog prices to $13 and sales sky-rocketed.
I agree that the pricing and acts of the major lables are fucking shit. But I also think they’ve exposed the world to a lot of groovy music.
My main point is that the moves of a few supermajor artists don’t seem that revolutionary or extreme to me when many people have been attempting to do the same thing for years.
I also think that MP3s sound like shit. I think CDs of older music (up to about ‘87) sound really horrible and canned and most old music is better listened to on decent vinyl with a good needle (the investment isn’t that much!). But those are more or less audiophile complaints, and not business/distribution issues.
For those of you running iTunes, be advised I recently downloaded the InRainbows CD from the InRainbows.com website, and it completely corrupted my IPOD. I synched up my IPOD after moving the tracks to my iTunes libary, not my IPOD is fried. Of course, there is no customer support link on the site. I think what Radiohead is doing is great, however, for me, it has come at a much higher cost as now need to buy a new IPOD, something I don’t even use that much, and just went past it’s warranty date. Needless to say I am quite unhappy about this and wanted to share this on the off chance anyone else encountered this problem
Music files corrupted your iPod and not (sic) you have to replace the hardware? I smell a troll….
A troll? No, how about a pissed off fan. How is that my IPOD has been worry free, just about a year old, and now states it has been corrupted only AFTER I downloaded the album? I would think, with you being the original author, you would be non-bias in your response, but perhaps you are anti-Apple, but thinking I am out to get something for nothing is rather moronic. I simply stated what happened on my end, in case others had similar problems.
You don’t need to buy a new iPod. No song can corrupt hardware that badly.
Reset your iPod.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61705
Matt, if it was that easy, I would do it in a second, but it isn’t. Whenever I hook up the IPOD to my system, it states that the unit is corrupt and I can’t proceed any further. When I unhook it, all I have on the screen is the giant red circle/slash and “Do Not Disconnect” on the screen. It has been like that for hours, and I am unable to do anything with it. Trust me, if I could reformat it, and then reinstall my library, I would, so any suggestions you have, I would love to hear them.
We’re not talking about hooking it up to your system.
1. Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.)
2. Press and hold the Menu and Center (Select) buttons simultaneously until the Apple logo appears, about 6 to 8 seconds. You may need to repeat this step.
Let me know what happens after you do this*.
* if your iPod is one of the following:
* iPod nano (3rd generation)
* iPod classic
* iPod (5th generation)
* iPod nano (2nd generation)
* iPod nano
* iPod with color display (iPod photo)
* iPod (Click Wheel)
* iPod mini
* iPod mini (2nd generation)
If it’s not, follow directions on the link I gave you and then post back here.
Thank you Matt, I did as you suggested, took a few times too, but you were right, it did reset itself and finally turn off and then back on. I believe I should wipe everything off completely and reload my library, what do you think?
I appreciate the help here from you Matt, and from MisterLevitan through email. My intention was not to try and get a free IPOD, but to share my problem on the off chance someone else had the same issue.
do not erase your library. we’re all certain that you’ve fixed the problem.
run the ipod for a while. if it locks up again, take a systematic approach:
remove the radiohead album and run it again.
if it locks up after THAT, then consider restoring the device.
restoring is a last resort.
Will do, thanks for all the help you guys, I do appreciate it!
Good advice there from Misterlevitan.
— if it is the Radiohead album —
If by process of elimination you’ve found it is the new RH tracks, try converting those tracks in iTunes to AAC format (rick click them in iTunes).
Move the originals out of your iTunes Music folder so they don’t repeat the transfer to the iPod and corruption.
I’ve reset a dozen or so iPods for friends, this sort of thing happens often. No need to worry.
Do you seriously think that the InRainbows download is worth only “five quid?” I think the iTunes model is solid. But, don’t expect tons of artist to jump on the web-release bandwagon if people are going to just take without supporting. In your favor, though, I have to say that 5 bucks is a lot more than what many people I know paid.
By today’s exchange rate, five pounds is eleven dollars and change.