I don't know how many of you are Radiohead fans, but there is bound to be a few.
Radiohead recently was on the news again, for the first time a quite a while I might add. Why? Because they were pre-releasing their album "In Rainbows" online, and you could choose to pay nothing for it, or 1,000,000 dollars for it. This was interesting. And I thought it a cool little thing they were doing. As a Radiohead fan, I was excited to see articles on them in Time, and segments on Fox and CNN about thier new album. Just the way this album was being marketed seemed to give it some edge. But when I first heard it, I was well, dissapointed.
I had read that thier new album was to harken back to their great days of "OK Computer" but when I heard the album, I saw about as much "OK Computer" in it as I find health food at Taco Bell.
I know I know, all of you will say, "You have to listen to it again"
But I did, and I found that every track is good. Every track is worth listening to. The whole is a piece of art, just like every album they have released since 1995. But I still find nothing like the edge of "OK computer" No tracks bite at you as much Paranoid Android, or give you goose bumps like Karma Police. Sure some tracks on "Rainbows" are great, Nude is great, The Reckoner gives me chills. But it just has no edge.
At best it is "Hail to the Thief" on sedatives. I mean even "Hail" had more edge, more machine gun guitar more everytihng.
But I still feel like I have to be missing something. What is it? Am I just delussioned and can't see the deeper, sharper edge. All of my friends sure seem to thing its genius (and I think its good, just not genius).
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Why would you want to pay a million dollars for an album? Because of that offer, I think that Radiohead is definitely being over unreasonable.
Read my blog!
The concept is that you can name your own price for the album. Most people paid $0 for it. Apparently, US buyers paid more on average than UK buyers. Saul Williams (in collaboration with Trent Reznor) is doing something similar. You can either choose to buy the album for $10 online or get it for free.
--Mike
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I think that's an amazing idea.
Tired of people illegally downloading your stuff? Just let them choose their own price.
I can see how this can benefit: True fans with money can show their support while true fans with not so much money can get an album for a low price.
I can't see free... I wouldn't really consider "free" an option. But that's just me, personally.
I hadn't heard that artists were doing this, but I kind of like the idea.
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If You Swear That There's No Truth And Who Cares, How Come You Say It Like You're Right? [Bright Eyes]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections