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- 00:54 on 25 Dec by Carly
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- 09:26 on 02 Nov by Neo
Shopping at Office (The shoe shop in Drake Circus) 4 - 14:22 on 04 Oct by Carly
What we would have looked like in the 70's! 4 - 21:12 on 29 Sep by Mark
Five Questions I Constantly Ask Which I'm Not Sure I'll Ever Know The Answers To 14 - 14:34 on 24 Sep by Kate
I wanted a pet kitten... 6 - 19:45 on 17 Sep by Mark
One Sentence(ish) Album Reviews 4 5 - 13:00 on 09 Sep by Mark
In The News 17 - 13:13 on 19 Aug by Mark
New Fantasticos Web Site 9 - 16:03 on 08 Aug by Neo
Kelp! I need some body Kelp!! 5 - 14:34 on 14 Jul by Ol
Harmless fun.... 4
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Listen To Yourself
Another classic from XKCD. (by Mark) -
I Haven't Lived A Perfect Life
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The Rut
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The Onion Sunday Magazine
Excellent. (by Mark) -
GTA IV vs Real Life
A photo comparison of GTA IV's Liberty City and the real New York. (by Bill)
What now for the music biz?
By Mark on Thursday 4 October 2007 at 13:38
For anyone who hasn't heard yet, Radiohead have recorded a new album. It's available (soon) as DRM free downloads (direct from their web site), as a special collectors disc box, and will also eventually be available on CD.
But it's the downloads I want to talk about here. The unusual part is, you can pay whatever you want for them.
I think this is a little piece of genius. Yes, a lot of people will download it for nothing, but most of those would likely have done so anyway - no huge loss. Some of those people may also love the songs and go to the next Radiohead gig, when they otherwise might not have.
People like me (who are used to paying CD prices) will gladly pay a fiver for it. And some die-hard fans may even pay more than that just to show their support for the band.
I've even seen comments on a couple of blogs from people who don't even like Radiohead, but have pre-ordered the album anyway for a quid or so just because they hate what the recording industry has become and think it's the way forward.
All of this is bolstered by the fact that Radiohead (as of now) don't have a recording contract; not only are they not spending out on packaging and distribution (no need for these with downloads), but also, all the money they do generate goes straight to the band.
Meanwhile, Sony BMG are still coming out with gems like this:
“When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song. Making 'a copy' of a purchased song is just a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy'.”
So... even if I legally buy a CD, and I make a copy of a track to play on a computer (which loses the record company not one penny), they will still sue me. Way to win back the customers, Sony.
Now admittedly, none of this is as black and white (or as easy) if you're not a massive band like Radiohead. But which of these two avenues do you see having a future?
Comments are now closed for this entry.
9 comments:
On Thursday 4 October 2007 at 15:50, carly said:
I like buying cds from shops, as they come in case, with little books, which often have the lyrics in them!
When i download music, its not the same, as it comes on a blank cd, with no case and nice writing/pictures. Then i loose them all and they get scratched. Sometimes i forget to write what it is on the cd!
When the music is on the computer it is ok, when i am on the computer. However when i go upstairs, and i think " I really fancy listening to some Girls aloud” i cant as its all downstairs. So then i buy the new girls aloud cd and put it upstairs. It looks great on the shef in its lovely case.
umm do you know what i mean?
On Thursday 4 October 2007 at 15:56, Mark said:
For possibly the first time ever, yes, I do.
On Thursday 4 October 2007 at 19:35, Rach said:
Yes, I agree... apart from the wanting to listen to Girls Aloud bit.
On Friday 5 October 2007 at 14:36, Mark B said:
I like CDs better as well, at the moment - but I also liked vinyl, and cassettes too.
The point is, one day you'll have something capable of playing digital music in every room, and suddenly everything else will seem like old news.
And when that happens, I want things to be like they are now: you buy the music, you own it, you do what you want with it.
As opposed to the general music industry view: you pay for it, we still own it, and if you try to use it too much or in what we think is the wrong way we will stop it working. Or sue you.'
On Friday 5 October 2007 at 15:08, carly said:
Thats true, if i put my lap top on i can listen to it everywhere! But it would be great if there was a giant big speaker system all around the house, with mini ipod things as remote controls! You could have a different genre in each room!
Maybe i could invent it!
I know there are some cds that can't even be put on the computer or copied.
I do like the idea of “pay what you like” for music, but i still prefer good old hard copies!
I don't know, but i'm guessing that the music industry has lost a lot of money since downloads have happened? I suppose they are just trying to get it back by sueing everyone!?
On Saturday 6 October 2007 at 00:58, carly said:
fuck the music my budgie just bit me!
On Tuesday 9 October 2007 at 10:04, Mark said:
Looks like Nine Inch Nails have dumped their label and are heading for this approach too.
On Wednesday 10 October 2007 at 10:26, Mark said:
Here's an excellent article from the head of Yahoo Music, who also worked at Napster during the “everyone's suing us” years.
On Thursday 25 October 2007 at 00:30, carly said:
Just found this article that says that Radiohead has made nearly $10 million dollars (about £4.8 million) in less than a week from its pay what you like thing!
Came from here - http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/radiohead_make_10_million_from_in_rainbows.html
Sorry, still don't know how to do links!