In Rainbows.

Alright! £1.45 and a quick legal download later, and Radiohead's new album, In Rainbows, is playing away happily in my iTunes. Though perhaps "happily" isn't the best word? Certainly not one you'll hear in connection with a Radiohead album very often, anyway. Hmm. Perhaps, "playing despondently?" Whatever the case, there it is, playing away. Minus cover art for the moment, which is a little annoying, but which I'll forgive out of respect for the sheer ballsiness of this little experiment in putting the power back into the hands of the artist.

If you haven't heard, Radiohead are out of contract, and are distributing their new album solely (for the time being, at least) through their website. You can either order the deluxe kitchen sink discbox edition featuring Everything And More for £40, or you can just download the album for... whatever price you feel is fair!

No, really. You just plug in whatever you want and your download begins. Despite being of the opinion that every Radiohead album is worth its weight in platinum, it took me a while to decide on a figure. I'm still very much a CD man, and will buy the album when it's eventually released that way, and I didn't really want to buy the album twice. But I also didn't want to send the message that I thought the album was worth nothing, so in the end I settled on £3 (a nice halfway point, I feel) and proceeded to the checkout, only to discover, strangely, that it was only going to charge me £1 (plus the 45p transaction fee). I was impatient to get underway, decided not to argue, clicked Submit and my download began.

So, how good is that? Interaction direct with the artist with, I imagine, a good share of the profit (however small it may be) going directly to them, with the big studios and their shareholders sitting on the sidelines watching. I wonder how this will change things? I guess it's not for everyone as Radiohead can afford (in every sense of the word) to take a risk like this, but it'll be interesting to see what this'll do to the digital landscape, and how the studios will react.

Anyway, what are you waiting for? Get downloading! :)

UPDATE: Davidic found me some cover art.


Not hi-res, but it'll do for now. Hang on. Helvetica? Boo! 'Hail to the Thief' is still my favourite Radiohead cover.

UPDATE 2: According to a survey of 5000 readers by online music magazine Record of the Day, the average price paid by those who downloaded In Rainbows was £3.88.

UPDATE 3: Comments left as a part of the survey certainly cover the spectrum. From fervid cheerleading:

"I paid the maximum allowed amount, £99.99, just for the digital download because Radiohead deserves massive accolades for their industry leadership. Aside from being a great band, they have shown the courage to do what the vested interests in the music industry have not -- embrace new models of distribution that will benefit the industry as a whole, fans, artists and labels alike, not just record execs. In Rainbows might have cost me 200 bucks, but I believe Radiohead’s contribution to fans, music and society as a whole, is priceless. The band has never ripped off its fans, in recorded quality or live performance. It’s time to return that favour."

to the downright crotchety:

"I paid 0.00 and I’ll burn it to CD for my friends too. I’m reminding the commentators that a large part of the market just doesn’t expect to pay for music anymore. It’s easy for bands whose status has been achieved by the investment of record labels, (whose demise now seems to be so gleefully welcomed by the punters), but are Radiohead going to invest in bands of the future? They’re not revolutionising anything they’re just capitalising on market transition, and like all the non traditional newcomers, sucking out the profit for themselves."

Although, downloading the album via the approved method seems like an odd form of protest. :)