Pay what you like, fans told
2007-10-02 09:35
London - Radiohead, one of the
world's most influential rock bands, plans to sell its new album
from its website as a digital download and let fans choose what
they want to pay.
With music sales in decline globally for seven successive
years, the industry is engaged in a debate over how best to
reverse the trend.
Radiohead said its seventh studio album In Rainbows would
be available from Radiohead.com from October 10 in MP3 format,
meaning it can be played on all digital devices. In the latest
twist in the move to digital music, fans can choose how much to
pay, or can pay nothing if they prefer.
The band will also offer a special edition boxed set for $82 which will be available later and will include two
vinyl albums, a CD version of the new album and a second CD with
additional new songs, artwork and photographs of the band.
Music observers said the British five-piece, which is no
longer signed to a record label, is able to sell directly to its
fans because it has such an established support base.
"They are the first band to put their money where their
mouth is," Gareth Grundy, deputy editor of Q music magazine,
told Reuters. "I think other bands that have been similarly
successful will look and, if it is deemed to have worked, will
do the same."
The traditional music business model has been under pressure
as piracy and the move to digital sales has cut into album
revenues. A strong area of growth, however, is live music and
any subsequent tour by Radiohead would be boosted by the
interest generated by the album.
"The traditional business model had been ruined by the
internet," said Grundy. "The industry is still trying to work
out what on earth the new model or models should be and this is
just one option."
Radiohead's digital or boxed set versions could be
pre-ordered from the group's Web site from Monday and a
spokesperson said the box set had so far proved the more popular.
The group is planning a traditional CD release of the album
in early 2008.
A decision by US music star artist Prince to give his
latest album away free with a British newspaper was met with
fury by retailers and the industry who said it undermined the
value of recorded music.