In Rainbows
I had decided to post something this week, and so there I was, sitting patiently in front of the laptop, waiting for Lady Inspiration to arrive. She was a little late this time around, even by her standards.
And then, I saw this.
Smashing, said I! The best band in the world is now, clearly, also the smartest! Whoop-de-doo and yipee-ya-yay.
As a business model, though, I wonder why more people haven’t tried this out. If positioned right, and done not-too-frequently, I do believe it’d do spectacularly well. I’ve seen it work. Annalakshmi, the Coimbatore-based restaurant has been doing this for ages. (I admit, it works better in their case – they’ve got religion and charity on their side! Also, maybe it works better when you have someone look you in the eye when you leave.)
Tyler Cowen, an economist and author of immense sense, had this to say about the gimmick/experiment. There is much to find fault with in his rationalization. For starters, Radiohead is not an Indie cult band. His basic premise, however, I agree with – this will not alter the Music Industry.
The more I think about it, it seems to me that only a band like Radiohead could pull this off. They are a band with a deep - and not just wide - fan base. And they do appear to be genuinely curious. This is a bold experiment, a fantastic statement from a band that has just risen that little bit higher in my estimation.
Tags: Experiments, Music
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October 3, 2007 at 7:04 pm
You beat me to it! Been meaning to post on this at the music blog!
I’m actually planning to spend 5 bucks on the download, just to encourage this. And In December I might shell out the 40 pounds for the discbox.
Radiohead is so cool it hurts. Even when their music doesn’t work for me (read Amnesiac), I still like them.
I doubt this will revolutionize music, but many bands might try this out in some form or the other.
October 4, 2007 at 3:57 am
Why is this not more widely known??
I would still download a pirated copy rather than pay even 1 penny for the album. But then, I don’t have a credit card. And neither do a large portion of file-sharers!
October 4, 2007 at 4:17 am
It is quite widely known in “the West.” The Hindu doesn’t have a rock journalism section.
October 4, 2007 at 4:41 am
I saw this a week ago. BBC 6 music was all agog about it. Its simple, its perfect. I like the way when you click the question mark for the second time, it says : No really, Its up to you.
I guess its up to us now.
October 18, 2007 at 6:15 am
You needn’t pay the penny. I downloaded it for free.
.
.
.
Having said that, its the worst Radiohead album I’ve ever heard. A few shades dumber than Hail To The Thief, and with a song that opens with the lines “I don’t wanna be your friend… I just wanna be your lover…”, you could easily be misled into thinking Thom Yorke went for a Spice Girls reunion concert and got inspired.
I guess I need to listen to it a little more before really dishing out harsh criticism, but a prelim hearing left me gasping for life and freshness. The only song that struck me as ‘good’, with a little red tick on the box on the side, was “Reckoner”, which is especially cool on head phones because there’s a different beat in each ear.
October 23, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Very nice to see a bad review of a much-hyped album! Did you not like Stadium Arcadium as well?
October 25, 2007 at 8:05 pm
I actually really liked the song “House of Cards”, which begins with the “I don’t want to be your friend” line. It’s nice to hear Thom being a bit like a human. In the next verse he talks about the infrastructure collapsing, so it’s all temporary.
The album is better than Amnesiac I think. More accessible, less clicks and beeps and caterwauling.