Demob Happy

Radiohead and the art of modern marketing

10/10

How much is music worth? Not the CD it’s printed on or the cover art, and certainly not the plastic jewel case - but the music itself? Or more precisely, how much is Radiohead’s music worth? This is the question the band have asked fans to contemplate when naming a price for their latest album, ‘In Rainbows‘. That’s right, in the face of music piracy and changing listening habits, and free from contractual obligations, one of the UK’s biggest bands have released their latest album as a download from their website, and you can name the price!

Previous Radiohead records were famously leaked and distributed on the Internet long before they hit shop shelves. What at first might seem like an act of surrender to market forces is actually very shrewd. Releasing the music online has enabled the band to maintain greater privacy and control over their music, and will probably net them as much per download as artists ordinarily receive from CD sales anyway. What’s more, most hardcore fans will surely prove unable to resist a further option to buy a £40 (approx. 60 euro) collectable box set or indeed the CD itself when it gets an official release in early 2008. With the announcement of this release catching out the music press and leaving fans only two weeks to get excited, ‘In Rainbows‘ has been a publicity coup. By eschewing the Big Eventism of previous releases, the absence of pre-publicity has paradoxically generated more column inches than that of a conventional campaign. And the music? Well, as with most Radiohead albums it takes a few spins to fully digest but repeated listens reveal ‘In Rainbows‘ to be one of their best. Less convoluted and contrived than the last (2003’s ‘Hail to the Thief‘), the electronic embellishments are better integrated into the mood of the music, which is generally gentler and unashamedly beautiful. After the semi-abrasive assault of the opening two tracks, the album gives way to Thom Yorke’s soaring melodies, Jonny Greenwood’s gorgeous picked guitar, Phil Selway and Colin Greenwood’s shuffling, jazzy rhythm section, and lush orchestral flourishes. While ‘In Rainbows‘ is arguably their most commercial sounding work in years, that is not to suggest that they have returned to the more conventional verse-chorus-verse structures of, say, ‘The Bends‘. The songs flow, even float in their own ambience, but are not bereft of pop sensibility. Moreover, Thom Yorke has abandoned some of his clumsier Bush and Blair-baiting lyrics in favour of less contemporaneous concerns. “I don’t wanna be your friend, I just wanna be your lover,” he almost croons on ‘House of Cards’. A lazy sentiment in the hands of most singers, but emoted in a voice of such singular poignancy as Thom Yorke’s it sends shivers up the spine. While the music industry is struggling to find an answer to file sharing and other forms of music piracy, Radiohead have taken a bold, independent step forward. Many bands face concentrating on merchandise and touring as a primary source of income, but Radiohead may prove that there is still a future in selling music. Which begs the question, if they can do this alone without a distributor, will the first casualty of music piracy be record companies rather than musicians?radiohead-15-step.MP3[display_podcast]