Radiohead Have Done It Again

Radiohead has done it again. According to Pitchfork, Radiohead will be releasing their new album "The King of Limbs" on February 19^th. That is this weekend! After revolutionizing the way music is consumed with In Rainbows, many were wondering how the band would be able to top that and if they would try to follow a similar distribution model. This time around, however, the band has scrapped the pay-what-you-want model, but they have kept up the deluxe packaging. Oddly enough, as a fan of Radiohead, I was not even really interested in what the package would be like or how many songs would make up "The King of Limbs". I was just totally floored that the album was coming out so soon.

This is the second album in a row that Radiohead have announced just before the date it was to be released. In an age where music is leaked months in advance and people can report news and rumors in a split second, it is amazing how Radiohead was able to keep this album under wraps. This is a band that has dedicated fans and yet for the second time they were able to completely blindside fans with news of a new album. At this point you may be asking yourself, “Why is this such a big deal?” Well, as I mentioned earlier, music is available almost instanteously and we have lost the feeling of waiting months and even years for a new album. Radiohead has somehow managed to do the impossible, or at least what is impossible for major labels, and that is stopping leaks and building buzz for their album outside of traditional channels.

Another reason something like this is so huge is that Radiohead isn’t just another small band looking for a way to grab people’s attention. They are a highly respected group that has also sold a significant amount of records, and they are only building their legacy by utilizing creative marketing techniques to further help their career. You would think with the success the band has had lately with their new approach to music distribution would rub off on record companies who are losing money at a rapid pace, but sadly that is not happening.

I will say that as a music journalist, it is a little disheartening to have an album come out of the blue like this. One of the many perks of writing about music is getting to listen to albums way in advance. However, the thrill of getting albums months before they are released wears off after awhile and it is refreshing to be totally surprised by an album. So for those who don’t listen to Radiohead, would you rather your favorite band talk their new album to death before it even comes out and sit around waiting for it to come out or have them release an album totally out of the blue? For those who do listen to Radiohead, what are your thoughts on their distribution system?

The Radiohead Effect

Three years ago, Radiohead did something that has altered the way music was consumed and numerous band’s pounced on the idea. They released their then brand new album,"In Rainbows",online and allowed customers to choose their own price starting at free. I remember the day of the release (I think it was) when I stumbled across the article detailing that "In Rainbows" would be available as a download at around 6 a.m. Growing up during the 1990’s, my earliest and only memory of Radiohead was seeing their music video for “Creep” getting constant airplay on the radio and MTV and after that I sort of lost interest. However, I was intrigued at the concept and woke up promptly at 6 a.m. in my freshman dorm room to download the album. I will be honest, I chose to pay nothing for the download as I was low on money and I was not sure if I would like the album. Since I was able to get the album for free, I decided to take a chance.

Turns out, I loved the album. Every song resonated with me and "In Rainbows" quickly became my favorite album of the year. Since I was able to hear a full album from Radiohead with very little risk, I found out I liked the band and was interested in digging around through their back catalog. As a direct result of the "In Rainbows" download campaign, I went out and bought two older Radiohead albums. So while the band might have missed out on profits from my download of "In Rainbows", they in turn caused me to go out and buy two of their albums and I will probably buy their future albums as well.

I noticed that this experiment had an immediate impact after the release of "In Rainbows", but three years later it is clear to see just how much of an impact was made. Countless bands, established or young unknowns just starting out, were selling downloads of their albums for a pay-what-you-want price. Bandcamp, a popular digital music retailer, even allows bands to set the price of their albums as pay-what-you-want. Then there are countless donation-based record labels such as Death To False Hope Records and Quote Unquote Records. These labels most likely did not use Radiohead as an inspiration and would have been around anyway, but they are still part of this shift in the way music is distributed.

Although I call the increasingly popular pay-what-you-want method “The Radiohead Effect”, the truth is they were not even the ones to first toy with the idea. Harvey Danger, an indie-rock band from Seattle, toyed with a similar concept by releasing their 2005 album Little By Little as a free download on their website. What made Radiohead’s campaign the figurehead for this wave of change was the fact that they were a critically acclaimed band with worldwide success putting out their music for free. This is what made journalists all over the world go crazy over the campaign and stay up all night in order to download the album and try and beat their peers for that coveted first review.

I am a fan of this model and while I think established bands could benefit from a similar release model, I mostly like the implications for underground artists. Underground artists do not get the same exposure and rarely make it on the radio or TV and people are less apt to spend their money on a record from a band they have never heard of. Now, with the help of a website like Bandcamp, artists can let people choose their own price and gain a lot of fans through word of mouth and the fact that there is little risk involved for the listener.

I am excited to see how musicians and artists will build off of this idea and what kind of unique distribution methods will follow.