Word: radiohead
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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...
...Radiohead has so far declined to comment on its motivations, but Donald Passman, the band's music attorney and author of All You Need to Know About the Music Business, insists his clients aren't on a crusade. "What this is all about is that they wanted to get their record to all their fans at the same time. This is not meant to be a model for the industry," he says...
...Neither was file sharing, but it didn't quite turn out that way. In any industry, the most efficient distribution system has a way of prevailing. Sure, new acts without loyal fan bases would be ill served by the Radiohead strategy. But successful bands at midcareer would be wise to take note. Even the most lucrative deals-the ones reserved for repeat, multiplatinum superstars-give artists less than 20% of the sales they generate, and that has to feed multiple band members. Meanwhile, as CD sales decline (in early 2007, they were down 20% from early...
...prices. (Universal Music, the largest label in the world, has declined to sign a long-term deal with iTunes.) "There's real urgency for the labels to get together and figure this out," says Rick Rubin, the Grammy-winning producer turned co-head of Columbia Records. "I think what Radiohead is doing is really cool, and I went online and ordered the record. But until there's a model in place that gives the audience everything it wants in one place, there are going to be a lot of experiments like this. Some will work pretty well, others...