Date: Friday, October 19, 2007
Radiohead’s ‘Free’ Download Rocks Record Industry
Following recent reports that a single mum from Minnesota was fined over £100,000 for illegal file sharing, Radiohead have made the controversial step of releasing their new album ‘In Rainbows’ as a free download. Well, it’s almost a free download – the Oxford-based rock band made the ambitious decision to ask fans to pay as much as they feel the album is worth.
Surprisingly, a Radiohead spokesperson admitted that many fans are choosing to pay above the odds for their idol’s new album. They said: “As you might imagine, offers are ranging from nothing to more than you might pay for an album in the shops.” By allowing fans to put their own price on this download, Radiohead have been able to conduct an interesting social experiment into the value of music. However, as you can imagine, this move has been as controversial as it is interesting.
Releasing their album online has also allowed Radiohead to avoid becoming victims of Internet piracy. It’s clear that illegal downloads will never be stopped completely, but Radiohead have proved that it’s possible to pre-empt the pirates by leaking your own album online.
Critics have been quick to suggest that Radiohead’s decision to release their album online could have a negative impact on the record industry. The band are currently without a record label and by releasing the record themselves via their website, they have successfully cut out the ‘middle man’. Since the launch of file-sharing website Napster in 2001, the music industry has certainly suffered as a result of Internet piracy and digital downloads. Indeed, in the 12 months prior to March 2007, EMI reported a £100m loss in profits and many other major labels reported similarly bad news. On the other hand, the Internet can also claim responsibility for some of the music industry’s greatest success stories of recent years with artists such as Arctic Monkeys, Kate Nash and Lily Allen launching their careers on social networking sites such as Myspace, before going on to sell millions of records.
In bravely choosing to release their album as a ‘free’ online download, Radiohead have shaken up the music industry and forced them to move on. The Internet has caused the music industry to rapidly develop and if companies fail to keep up, they will certainly continue to lose money. Rather than spell the end of the UK music industry, Radiohead have opened our eyes to a new beginning. We don’t know what the Internet has in store for music in the future but it’s bound to be exciting.
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