Posted on October 11, 2007 - by Justin Hartman
Is this the end of the Record label era?
This morning I purchased the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, direct from their website. Lots has been written about Radiohead dumping their record company and offering their music direct to the public so I don’t want to harp on the same old stuff but what I do find interesting is the new model which is changing the music world as we know it.
The beauty of what Radiohead are doing is they’re asking the fans to decide how much they’re prepared to pay for their latest album. This means that you can pay as little as £0.01 for the DRM-free, mp3 album. Brilliance or stupidy – many will argue, but as a huge Radiohead fan I had no problem paying £10 for my digital download.
Since this bold move by Radiohead other big artists have followed suit. Nine Inch Nails, Oasis and Jamiroquai have all dropped their labels and are now offering their latest work direct to the public and I see Madonna has done the same. Each of these artists have different ideas about how this will work but the fact that they’re all fed up with their record companies speaks volumes about this archaic model.
This is the beginning of the end.
22 Comments
I'd love to hear yours!
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October 11, 2007
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Crazy, I just did the same thing today!! Although it didn’t work, i am going to try again later.
I think it’s a brilliant and bold move, at this point they are wealthy enough that any money they make is a bonus and practically unnecessary in the big scheme of things.
Also: Madonna apparently jumped the record label ship too. Crazy shit.
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October 11, 2007
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Nic, didn’t you read the full post? I spoke of Madonna as well
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October 11, 2007
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sorry, I read up until I started skimming through the artists and obviously my eye is not fond of Madonna!!
Wow you can complain hey, you bitch when no-one comments and you bitch at those that do comment@!!
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October 11, 2007
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LOL – yes yes I am know to be a bit of a complainer but seriously I thought that possibly the image embedded in the middle of the post is what prevented you from reading the rest……..
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October 11, 2007
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Haha… you two crack me up.
Justin- You now officially hold the record amongst the people I know. The concencus in my group of mates over far too many beers the other night was £7.99 the same as getting it off itunes.
Funnily enough one of my mates (who isn’t short of cash) owned up to paying £0.01 and his excuse was just to see whether it would work or not.
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October 11, 2007
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Grant see therein lies our problem. iTunes is a no-go zone so we’re kind of forced to wait for the CD and then buy it at between R150-180 depending on where you go so £10 seems like a bargin to me and I’ve got my music instantly
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October 11, 2007
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And tell your mate that it’s just plain evil to pay one pence for Radiohead…
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October 11, 2007
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Crazy, I just did the same thing today!! Although it didn't work, i am going to try again later.
I think it's a brilliant and bold move, at this point they are wealthy enough that any money they make is a bonus and practically unnecessary in the big scheme of things.
Also: Madonna apparently jumped the record label ship too. Crazy shit.
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October 11, 2007
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Nic, didn't you read the full post? I spoke of Madonna as well
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October 11, 2007
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sorry, I read up until I started skimming through the artists and obviously my eye is not fond of Madonna!!
Wow you can complain hey, you bitch when no-one comments and you bitch at those that do comment@!!
Visit My Website
October 11, 2007
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LOL – yes yes I am know to be a bit of a complainer but seriously I thought that possibly the image embedded in the middle of the post is what prevented you from reading the rest……..
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October 11, 2007
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Stumbled across your blog and comments while doing some research.
This whole industry is already gone. Artists will soon forego labels and do it on their own.
They are signing up for our free artist exchange and management system. No need for a label. Our service is complete with distribution/management/promotion services… FREE.
http://www.unusngerho.com a new age record label.
Good luck rock on….
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October 11, 2007
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Haha… you two crack me up.
Justin- You now officially hold the record amongst the people I know. The concencus in my group of mates over far too many beers the other night was £7.99 the same as getting it off itunes.
Funnily enough one of my mates (who isn't short of cash) owned up to paying £0.01 and his excuse was just to see whether it would work or not.
Visit My Website
October 11, 2007
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Grant see therein lies our problem. iTunes is a no-go zone so we're kind of forced to wait for the CD and then buy it at between R150-180 depending on where you go so £10 seems like a bargin to me and I've got my music instantly
Visit My Website
October 11, 2007
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And tell your mate that it's just plain evil to pay one pence for Radiohead…
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October 12, 2007
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This is certainly an interesting move. Says a lot of record labels! Even the artists are realising that they could profit more if they dump their labels.
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October 11, 2007
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Stumbled across your blog and comments while doing some research.
This whole industry is already gone. Artists will soon forego labels and do it on their own.
They are signing up for our free artist exchange and management system. No need for a label. Our service is complete with distribution/management/promotion services… FREE.
http://www.unusngerho.com a new age record label.
Good luck rock on….
Visit My Website
October 12, 2007
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This is certainly an interesting move. Says a lot of record labels! Even the artists are realising that they could profit more if they dump their labels.
Visit My Website
October 12, 2007
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Justin…just to clarify, you CAN actually pay nothing for it (0.00) and still download. I did it to test and then proceeded to pre-order the boxed version when it is released shortly.
Only complaint so far is it has been encoded at 160k, which while better than what iTMS typically offers (though you can get some at 256k now) it still isn’t CD quality.
Still working my way through it, but first couple of listens are promising…stay tuned!
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October 12, 2007
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Justin…just to clarify, you CAN actually pay nothing for it (0.00) and still download. I did it to test and then proceeded to pre-order the boxed version when it is released shortly.
Only complaint so far is it has been encoded at 160k, which while better than what iTMS typically offers (though you can get some at 256k now) it still isn't CD quality.
Still working my way through it, but first couple of listens are promising…stay tuned!
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January 13, 2008
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FYI – thought this might interest you in light of this post -> http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2008/01/how-not-to-do-1.html
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January 13, 2008
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FYI – thought this might interest you in light of this post -> http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2008/01/h…