Creep: To be or not to be
Radiohead is giving their new album away. You already know this. Everyone already knows this. You -- technologically-inclined music consumer -- probably downloaded In Rainbows hours after it was made available this past week. I have not.
Don't get me wrong ... I'm into Radiohead. I have several of their releases. Full disclosure, I'm a 1993-1997 Oxfordshire SpaceRok kind of guy, which I suppose makes me some kind of hipster neanderthal. After all, understanding why Kid A or Amnesiac are masterpieces is a key component to Williamsburg cred. That's not me. I'm not technically cool. Noel Gallagher was the author of my senior quote. I have every Counting Crows record.
Even still, In Rainbows will be in my iPod eventually. But how will it get there? The hook of Rainbows is well-documented: you can download the album from Radiohead's official Web site at any cost. It's an admittedly ballsy marketing ploy, even when you factor in that Thom Yorke and Co. are wealthy beyond comprehension. You have to figure that the band will take a financial bath on this, and it's hard to deny that it's pretty damn cool that they don't seem to give a shit.
But how much do I pay? On one hand, I want to reward a great band for an innovative approach to getting their product out to the masses during a unsure time in the music industry. On the other hand, the music industry that Radiohead belongs to has truly manhandled me. Like, slipped GHB into my spritzer kind of manhandled. Overpriced albums and Ticketmaster surcharges have been the bane of my fan experience. Metallica banned me from Napster for downloading "Fuel." I don't even like Metallica, or really even "Fuel" for that matter. So for once, I can battle a little bit out of the red. I have all the power. Suck it, Lars.
A colleague of mine paid $15 for Rainbows, which seems excessive. I mean, iTunes would charge $9.90 for the 10 songs that make up the album, that's if Radiohead was actually on iTunes, but whatevs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, it was reported that about one quarter of the buyers have paid nothing at all (discounting the nominal credit surcharge). This seems like a bit of a dick move.
So by using my incredible math skills (I once got a 39 on a state-mandated arithmetic test and I'm not even technically retarded) I think I'll split the difference and pay $7.50. Hmmmm ... that seems fair.
Wait. They're giving the thing away! Like, for free! What am I doing?
To quote Ralphie Parker from The Christmas Story: "Don't bother me ... I'm thinking."
Don't get me wrong ... I'm into Radiohead. I have several of their releases. Full disclosure, I'm a 1993-1997 Oxfordshire SpaceRok kind of guy, which I suppose makes me some kind of hipster neanderthal. After all, understanding why Kid A or Amnesiac are masterpieces is a key component to Williamsburg cred. That's not me. I'm not technically cool. Noel Gallagher was the author of my senior quote. I have every Counting Crows record.
Even still, In Rainbows will be in my iPod eventually. But how will it get there? The hook of Rainbows is well-documented: you can download the album from Radiohead's official Web site at any cost. It's an admittedly ballsy marketing ploy, even when you factor in that Thom Yorke and Co. are wealthy beyond comprehension. You have to figure that the band will take a financial bath on this, and it's hard to deny that it's pretty damn cool that they don't seem to give a shit.
But how much do I pay? On one hand, I want to reward a great band for an innovative approach to getting their product out to the masses during a unsure time in the music industry. On the other hand, the music industry that Radiohead belongs to has truly manhandled me. Like, slipped GHB into my spritzer kind of manhandled. Overpriced albums and Ticketmaster surcharges have been the bane of my fan experience. Metallica banned me from Napster for downloading "Fuel." I don't even like Metallica, or really even "Fuel" for that matter. So for once, I can battle a little bit out of the red. I have all the power. Suck it, Lars.
A colleague of mine paid $15 for Rainbows, which seems excessive. I mean, iTunes would charge $9.90 for the 10 songs that make up the album, that's if Radiohead was actually on iTunes, but whatevs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, it was reported that about one quarter of the buyers have paid nothing at all (discounting the nominal credit surcharge). This seems like a bit of a dick move.
So by using my incredible math skills (I once got a 39 on a state-mandated arithmetic test and I'm not even technically retarded) I think I'll split the difference and pay $7.50. Hmmmm ... that seems fair.
Wait. They're giving the thing away! Like, for free! What am I doing?
To quote Ralphie Parker from The Christmas Story: "Don't bother me ... I'm thinking."
posted by Dan Hanzus at 7:59 PM
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