The Radiohead Revolution

On October 10th, 2007 Radiohead may change the way music is bought forever. They may also have a disaster on their hands, but my gut feeling is they will revolutionize the way the music is distributed forever. For those of you who are unaware, Radiohead will make their new album, 'In Rainbows', available exclusively for download. Here's the kick�you choose the price. You want to pay $10, fine. You don't really consider yourself a Radiohead fan but feel it's worth taking a listen for $1? Fine. You like Radiohead but money is tight this month so you pay $5? Fine.

This is too good to be true, right? It's happening and if there was ever a band to pull this off, it's Radiohead. They are one of the most venerated and hippest bands around today. 'OK Computer' and 'Kid A' are modern classics and even if you don't get them or want to get them, you have to admire them more than a dazzling Eddie Van Halen guitar solo. I'll be the first to admit, I respect Radiohead more than I love them. But what I do recognize is that they're unlike any other band on this planet and are really the only group of musicians out there forging rock music in directions that no one ever imagined. They stand alone in terms of innovation and many credit them with reinventing rock n' roll. No one could have imagined an album like 'OK Computer' upon its release, it changed the way we looked at albums in the same way 'Pet Sounds', 'Rubber Soul' and 'Dark Side of the Moon' did before. The band has slowly built a very loyal audience and when they tour, they ironically always leave the audience wanting more. They should be playing arenas and often choose much smaller venues so as to not alienate their core fans. Why doesn't every band do this?

Radiohead is bypassing iTunes, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Virgin and HMV and bringing the music directly to the people. Heck, even the press agency representing Radiohead is not receiving the album before October 10th. The email I received from them is as follows:

Talk about revolutionary? Just as Trent Reznor has talked about, Radiohead is skipping the months of carefully prepped promotion in favor of putting the power in the fans hands. They're eliminating the middle men and as a result, more people may be exposed to their music than ever before. Can you imagine if Jon Bon Jovi chose not to go on American Idol and instead released 'Lost Highway' the way Radiohead is doing it? Jon Bon Jovi is old school and the old model still works for him, but I can't help but think that he could have done a lot less work and his music would be exposed to even more people. If so, 'Lost Highway' would have gone gold in its first week and who knows, more people would have owned this album than any other Bon Jovi album in twenty-years. Ditto every other major band on the planet that put out albums this year. It's great to have incredible first week sales, but the struggle is to keep people interested in your album six months down the line. It's far sexier to be in the top-40 six months after your album's release than debuting at number-one. What if Bruce Springsteen did something like this? I mean, his album was leaked a month before the release date. Why even risk leaks when you can bring the music directly to the people? I have a feeling that within two-days more people will have heard 'In Rainbows' than Springsteen's 'Magic' will sell in two-years. However, if the album had gone up for immediate download back in August when it was finished mastering, I bet millions would have bought the download if they could have chosen the price. More importantly, it would give Springsteen exposure to a new audience and his loyal audience would know these songs inside and out when he toured behind the album. I can't tell you how many concerts I go to and witness an audience standing there with their hands in their pockets when acts play their new material.

So how many downloads will Radiohead sell? That is the question. Radiohead has seen a chasm in the current model of selling records and instead of ranting and raving about their loss of royalties, they have taken back the power from the record companies and the RIAA and now have total control over their careers. While other artists are getting into bed with corporate sponsors and giving exclusive tracks to certain retailers, Radiohead kicked everyone out of bed and chose to go it alone this time. There's still a special package being created with a bonus cd, pictures, a book and 2 LP's (which will cost you approximately $80). Talk about brilliant. You do the math; let's say they sell 100,000 copies of this special box worldwide, which equals $8 million. For Bon Jovi to make that much money from a record, he needs to sell four-million records in America. They receive $2 for every cd sold in America and $1 for every disc outside of the US. Their last album, 'Have A Nice Day', sold approximately 4.5 million copies worldwide. Approximately 1.5 million were in the US and the other 3 million were overseas. That means the band made about $6 million. You tell me�which is the better model?

Independent acts probably would not benefit from the Radiohead model; however, if you have a core and solid fan base this should prove that they don't need the traditional record company anymore. Will it generate as much money as albums did during the 1990's? Probably not, but what it will do is not just give Radiohead continued credibility, but it will ensure they are making money on every download. Hell, I have already spoken to people who are already planning on buying it just for their cleverness. No one is talking about the music but how Radiohead will be delivering it to you and at what price.

Radiohead has embraced the future and may very well get rich out of it, but more importantly, they're buying themselves free press without having to fly on a record company's private jet to ten countries in five days to let the world know they have a new record in stores. The old school model of buying and selling records is dead and they realize this. The future of music will be determined by bands like Radiohead who defy the odds and think of unconventional ways to get the music to the people. Words like Gold and Platinum are useless unless people know your music. The Radiohead revolution is upon us�are you ready for a revolution? I am.

Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and can be found at The Screen Door

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