Today Radiohead announced their new album, In Rainbows, is available for pre-order. It will be released on October 10th without the distribution arm of one of the major record labels. Radiohead is thumbing their collective nose at the record industry’s tried and tired business model, putting their ingenuity and faith into the goodness of their fans. How much is the new Radiohead album worth to you? Figure that number then head over to www.inrainbows.com and name your price.
Beyond the excitement that is a new Radiohead album, what is most gratifying about today’s announcement is that their business sense is as bold and fearless as their own music.
Since the debut of Pablo Honey, Radiohead has reinvented their sound with each successive album. After the critically praised OK Computer, most bands would have zeroed in on that sound and milked it for all it was worth. Unconventional in their ways, Radiohead tossed that winning formula right out the window and unleashed the heavily synthetic Kid A and Amnesiac albums, stunning fans and critics.
After their last studio release, Hail to the Thief, Radiohead’s contract with label EMI expired. And while Thom Yorke hinted that the band wasn’t looking for a new label, I doubt many industry types thought they would go it alone. In the age of digital music, it’s easier to release a new album without the distribution and marketing of a major label. Radiohead has the clout to approach any of the major online music stores and command a profitable exclusive deal. But that would be too pedestrian.
Instead, they decided there was no need for a record label or an online store and are selling the album in two configurations from their website. For a price you set, you can get the album as a download. But more interestingly, for £40 you can get the “discbox.”
The discbox is an innovation. Gone are the days of the album cover and liner notes. Music has been reduced to a piece of plastic or streaming bits—it’s just packaging. Radiohead understands the growing disconnect between art and commerce and has attempted to recreate the experience of the album. Included in the discbox package is the CD, 2 12″ vinyls, a second enhanced CD with extra tracks, artwork and lyric book all contained within a hardback book.
Radiohead gets it. And they’re ready to change the business of music. And that is what you do when you’re considered the Best Band in the World.
