Why are the gentlemen below grinning?
- Because they’ve monetized the advance leak of their own album
- Because they threw a stink bomb into the morass of major label fear, uncertainty, and doubt
- Because they’re in possession of real data as to what people will/will not pay for downloadable albums
- Because they’ve steered the discussion about album downloads back to, well, complete albums, not just piecemeal tracks
- Because they’ve made album release dates exciting again
- Because they’re taking bets on which journalist/blogger/whatever will come up with the most preposterous story as to What It All Means (by the way, hey Pitchfork – an ARP is also a type of synthesizer)
- All of the above
So last week I pulled the trigger on the electronic version of In Rainbows as soon as the announcement was made. While waiting for the download announcement to arrive last night, the mood about the music boards was kinda old fashioned – it felt like everyone was waiting in line outside Tower Records for the midnight sale. When I finally received the download link, I got a respectable 415 KB/s download speed. Overall an unbelieveably easy transaction.
In the interest of full disclosure: I paid 50p per track. If the dollar wasn’t so crap against the pound, I would have gone for the full vinyl and CD package. I’m not a Radiohead superfan, but I do want this experiment to succeed.
Meanwhile, Thom – meet Trent. Thom, Trent… Meet Tim.
