Contradicting norms and traditional music industry standards, top British band Radiohead will release its new album “In Rainbows” in digital-only format. Radiohead fans will only be able to access the new album from the band’s official website and download the complete album for a fee that they themselves will set.

This is the first time a top-selling band will be offering its music to fans via the internet download, with a price that is freely set by fans. It was not mentioned in the Radiohead website why such a deal was made by the band. However, it would seem that the band is banking on their popularity, and trust that their fans will not abuse its good faith.

The Radiohead album’s website features an interactive interface where fans and music aficionados can pre-order the album download. Once they’ve completed the pre-ordering procedures, email activation will be sent to them. Then on October 10 those who pre-ordered and have activated their account can start downloading the album from the site. Users will be charged with a transaction fee which will be shown during the checkout process.

This announcement could very well revolutionize music industry business. Although the “pricing scheme” does not guarantee a good revenue for the band, if by some miracle it’s a success, it would however pave the way for a similar undertakings by other bands in the future.

Hopefully this new approach will help the music industry develop a new more robust business model, since the old model clearly doesn’t work very well in the era of Web 2.0.

Related:

Was the Radiohead experiment a success?

Radiohead throwing free concert online for New Year’s Eve

Radiohead drops free album distribution gimmick, sells out again

Coldplay apes Radiohead, NIN - gives away free MP3

Trent Reznor: Musician, and admitted music pirate

Entry was posted on Monday, October 1st, 2007 at 8:30 pm under Uncategorized.  Print This Post

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