Word: radioheads
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...members of Radiohead-five prosperous, educated and reasonable men whose major-label contract with EMI expired in 2003-decided that the process could be streamlined. So last week guitarist Jonny Greenwood announced on the band's official blog that a new album, In Rainbows, would be available on Oct. 10 only at Radiohead.com. With a few words, the labels and middlemen were cut out of one of the most anticipated releases of the year...
...industry stuck in the financial equivalent of Hurricane Alley, In Rainbows is more than just another storm. "This could be the mother of them all," e-mailed an A.-and-R. executive at a major European label. EMI pulled in $3.6 billion last year. It is a couple of Radioheads away from a musical New Orleans. Many record-company lifers were stung by the rejection of a band on a decade-long run of excellence, but the real damage could stem less from Radiohead's determination to go it alone than from its "stadium sound at museum pricing" scheme. "That...
...While many industry observers speculated that Radiohead might go off-label for its seventh album, it was presumed the band would at least rely on Apple's iTunes or United Kingdom-based online music store 7digital for distribution. Few suspected the band members had the ambition (or the server capacity) to put an album out on their own. The final decision was apparently made just a few weeks ago, and, when informed of the news on Sunday, several record executives admitted that, despite the rumors, they were stunned. "This feels like yet another death knell," emailed an A&R executive...
...influential and profitable by focusing on younger acts that need their muscle to get radio play and placement in record stores - but only if the music itself remains a saleable commodity. "That's the interesting part of all this," says a producer who works primarily with American rap artists. "Radiohead is the best band in the world; if you can pay whatever you want for music by the best band in the world, why would you pay $13 dollars or $.99 cents for music by somebody less talented? Once you open that door and start giving music away legally...
...ramifications of Radiohead's pay-what-you-want experiment will take time to sort out, but for established artists at least, turning what was once their highest-value asset - a much-buzzed-about new album - into a loss leader may be the wave of the future. Even under the most lucrative record deals, the ones reserved for repeat, multi-platinum superstars, the artists can end up with less than 30% of overall sales revenue (which often is then split among several band members). Meanwhile, as record sales decline, the concert business is booming. In July, Prince gave away his album...