Computers and the internet have revolutionized the creation and sharing of music. Gone are the days when you have to hand someone a physical object in order for them to have the capability to play whatever music is recorded at will. Now, with file sharing technology and the seemingly infinite advances in home recording technology, it is much, much easier to obtain a copy of a song - though it no longer physical.
While the law argues that even an intangible file is an object that can be bought and sold, I am inclined to think that music does not have to be that way. After all, music as an activity can be an extremely spontaneous, organic, and fleeting experience that can never be bought and sold. Maybe easier access to a musical product could encourage easier access to musicking, from recording yourself and putting it on youtube to creating a really killer mix tape for a dance party with friends.
Of course, the music industry is a business and if a musician wants to create a livelihood based on his art, he needs to make money somehow.
Enter Radiohead's "In Rainbows." The band self-released this album and made it available on a pay-as-you-wish basis. Downloaders had the option of paying $0.00, and many took it. Many others paid more, with the average payment for those who paid in the first week hovering around $6 - the album took in over $10 million in that first week alone. Enough people who desired the album recognized the cost of production and the band's need to make money, and oh, did that band make money. Without major label backing, Radiohead did not need to give up royalties. The total cost of production was much lower, so the chain of producer to consumer was much smaller than in the standard record industry business model.
(side note - as soon as I typed "In Rainbows," a track from that album came up in my Itunes Shuffle...hmm...)
There are also issues of quality and the quality that is currently sacrificed for any digital recording over CDs or, as some would argue, vinyl. This is another advantage to music being recorded on a physical object. Perhaps in keeping with the idea that there is some value to a physical object, Radiohead's CD boxed version of the album did quite well as well.
Of course, this is Radiohead. Radiohead has its previous success and reputation to help them as they carry on this wildly popular, ground breaking, nearly viral business model. But thank goodness someone did, pointing towards what may be the future of recorded music.
I want to talk about issues of ownership, but as I feel this is already rapidly approaching the Longest Blog Post Ever, I will continue at another time.
Starting Over
13 years ago
