leyton.org

Radiohead have today released their new album, In Rainbows, and as is perhaps well known now they’re asking people to choose how much they want to pay for it. From nothing, to, well, practically whatever you want to pay.

Gordon makes valid points about paying for it later if he likes it. I’ve done the same in many cases (my Sigur Rós and Aphex Twin albums are a case in point), but the days when I actively sought out free copies have long gone. Don’t have the time or inclination, and am happy making occasionally bad decisions about albums on occasion (I’ll not cite examples…). But if friends “lend” me a copy (much like we all used to swap tapes) I feel honour bound to go buy it if I like it.

So there are a number of strong reasons why I’ve paid for this album up front even though I didn’t strictly have to. Firstly, I like Radiohead. I’m a Big Fan. I’ve never been disappointed in any of their music. It gets better every time I listen to it, and stands the test of time. I’m happy to take the risk, and pay for it, exactly as I would with any album I know I want in my collection. I won’t be going and buying it if it’s released as a CD next year – because I’ll already have bought it: I don’t have a need for plastic discs cluttering up the house anymore. They live in the loft now.

Secondly, I think this is possibly an epoch moment: Radiohead, outwith a contract, are a massive band who can do this without fear and show the music industry it can work to distribute music in this form without pesky DRM. Whilst I do buy stuff from iTunes Music Store, I regularly re-rip it so I can listen to it on my Squeezebox. I don’t have to here. So how’s it different from ‘taking a punt’ on iTunes? It’s not. I want the album, and they’re asking me to be honest in how much I think it’s worth. So I’m doing just that. So, yes, in one sense it is free. But I think it’s worth more than nothing.

Finally, I think digital music is massively overpriced, even iTunes (emusic is the only exception here). £8 or so for an album over there. Sure, there are distribution costs, but much of it is born by me. I own/maintain my computer/iPod I need to listen to it (which is a lot more costly than a CD player), I pay for my ADSL. They pay for a server infrastructure that should scale, advertising, and so on. But much of it is simply greedy record companies keeping prices artificially high and protecting their superfluous industry. When I buy something on iTunes, I’m restricted with what I can do (but am largely not bothered by them), and I don’t get much ‘extra’ with the music. I don’t get a nice booklet. I don’t get a nice case. I don’t get many freebies. OK, some purchases on iTunes do come with extras, but it’s the exception not the rule.

A digital distribution medium for music cuts out the middle man. It cuts out the record industry and all those executives. They know it. We know it. But we’re all tacitly going along with it when we pay over-inflated prices for our music. So take that padding away and we’re left with the band, their distribution costs (servers, techies, and a small bit of advertising), and their production costs. Of course, they’re not going to starve – their back-catalog will help there, but I don’t see how past success should devalue my current decision.

So I’ve paid £4, plus the 45p c/card cost. I’ve paid roughly half what I’d pay for an iTunes album, or a discounted physical CD. To me, that’s a fair price for what’s being offered to me. Music, with no padding. I could have paid more, but anything higher just felt a bit too generous. And less just felt I was demeaning what I think I am paying for: good music from a reputable band that’ll last me for years.

It’s certainly a dilemma, and it’s been an interesting exercise trying to put my thoughts together to explain my decision. No doubt some readers will think ‘muppet’, and others ‘cheapskate’. It’s up to you, and I’ll be looking out for the inevitable follow-up press to Radiohead’s decision. I just hope that when the figures come out they’re good news for independent musicians, and lay the way to a better pricing model for music – and much greater trust – between the music buyers and the musicians themselves, without the unnecessary and pointless interference of the record industry itself.

See also

• The BBC’s coverage of the how-much-to-pay dilemma

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 9:51 am and is filed under Media, Music, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.