The band Radiohead recently released their new album "In Rainbows" in a bold and surprising new way. They have made their entire album available for download before the release of the physical cd. It is available on or before the 3rd of December, 2007. As an added bonus, they have made the cost of the album a personal affair. Essentially, the only cost required is the payment processing fee of 45p, or around 90 cents U.S.. Beyond the payment fee, the listener is free to pay whatever he or she feels the album is worth. The success of this approach to marketing has yet to be revealed, however, it appears very promising. Some of our own friends have paid well over a 100 US dollars for this album, in support of the band's decision. Even the underground piracy world of torrent sites are reacting to this news with respect and admiration, prohibiting the album's availability on their sites.

With the current distribution model, artists end up with very little of gross sales. Bands can even end up owing the record company after everything is said and done. This new system Radiohead has implemented allows the money to go directly to the band. This is not like Apple, either, where the money goes to Apple, record company, and then artist, in descending order. Wierd Al is one of those artists feeling the burn of Apple's I-Tunes music price distribution scheme. He even has his album availible on his myspace account. Many other artists are considering following Radiohead's lead with their new albums.

There have been some complaints in the community about the format that the music is presented in. Unfortunately, the music is in a 160KB/s mp3 format. It would have been preferable to use 192KB/s format, and extremely nice if they chose 320KB/s. This format choice has made some consumers second guess a download purchase, opting to wait for the limited edition box set. Most will pay for the album through the download, and "illegally" download the higher quality versions when they are released. Either way, we at fastsilicon.com admire Radiohead's pioneering move that will hopefully turn the music scene on its head.

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.