Three albums have been getting heavy rotation on my playlist. I just got 'em--all legally, thank you very much. One of them, Radiohead's new release "In Rainbows" is an interesting case study to anyone interested in marketing, music, copyright, and licensing issues, trends and social networks, and the intersection among these areas. These all represent current challenges (and opportunities if they could open their myopic eyes) to the music industry. Luckily for consumers, despite the RIAAscists and their ilk, musicians are increasingly shedding their paleolithic relationship with record labels and communicating directly with their fans--the consumers. Radiohead not only cut out the middleman on their new album but went one step further. You pay them whatever you wish: zero to a million dollars.
How's this experiment going so far? I'm too lazy to find the proper link on the Times, but I read recently that between the free-riders and idiots (to economists at least because we're all suppose to be self-interested rational beings only looking out for ourselves and our interests), Radiohead is receiving roughly $8 per download. Not bad, especially if you think about the fact the band is getting a bigger slice of that pie as oppose to some record label, and being the bellwether band with this payment structure, they're reaping tons of free (and generally positive) publicity.
I've never been the biggest Radiohead fan, but thanks to this pay-as-you-want system, I was tempted enough to try it out. This album is astonishingly great to my relatively non-discerning ear.
Being a huge Wilco fan, I wasn't disappointed at all with "Sky Blue Sky." From the gorgeous cover art (I wouldn't mind a nicely framed litho of it) to the songs, it's a must have.
John Mayer's Continuum is simply off the heezy, yo! J Dog comes correct and straight with emotions on sleeves. Holla.