Just a little over a year ago, the idea of huge bands self-releasing new material was mostly unheard of. When Radiohead announced the release of In Rainbows with zero fanfare – a post on the band’s blog was the extent of the PR done – everyone pretty much freaked out. I won’t go further into the details, because I think I’ve covered it pretty well on this blog.
Sales data hasn’t been released for the album, so nobody knew how well it did. That data just came out and not surprisingly, it sold like crazy. Like 3 million copies crazy. 100k discboxes (at roughly $80 each), 1.75 million physical discs, and the rest digital sales. It’s a fantastic album, and I’m glad to see the sales reflect that. Let’s hope the next one is just as great.
If anything, 2008 will forever be remembered as the year where artists have fully embraced the idea of digital distribution as its own medium. What was once used as just another way to sell the music currently sitting on shelves at record stores, online sales have become a justifiable channel to put out new music that isn’t available anywhere else, and to price it whatever you wish.
With no physical product to manufacture, consumers are paying for exactly what they are getting – the intellectual property of the music, and that’s it. The “pay-what-you-want” method, which seems to have worked for Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails so well, lets fans reconsider how much they value the music they are purchasing.
It also has created a niche for albums such as Paul Westerberg’s new record, 49:00, which is now on sale at Amazon for 49 cents for the entire album as one full-length mp3. For a record that sounds like it cost about as much to make it as it does to purchase, 49:00 is a perfect example of how digital distribution has changed the way artists release their work.
Oh yeah, and the music is pretty good, too. Seriously, go download it. What have you got to lose? You’ve got more change than that in your couch cushions right now.
Radiohead, who have proved they are the masters of “awesome shit you didn’t know was even possible” have managed to yet again collectively blow minds with the video for “House of Cards” off of last year’s In Rainbows.
Basically, they shot a whole ton of lasers at Thom Yorke, collected the data returned, which you can now play with. So, in addition to a swanky music video, they also have made creepiest web toy ever. Feel like watching Thom Yorke sing while you are inside his face? Well now you can.
Check it out here, thanks to the masterminds at Google.
No, not that machine music, I mean music produced by machines. Recently Radiohead hosted a remix contest for their single “Nude,” which got some great responses, but none as awesome as James Houston’s cheeky take on the song.
Based on the lyric (and alternate title) “Big Ideas: Don’t get any” I grouped together a collection of old redundant hardware, and placed them in a situation where they’re trying their best to do something that they’re not exactly designed to do, and not quite getting there.
It doesn’t sound great, as it’s not supposed to.
Similarly great (but relentlessly nerdier) is this video of a floppy drive. Your inner geek is freaking loving this.
- Radiohead Remix Project (iTunes link) – Interesting idea. Maybe not the best implementation ($6 to enter a remix contest?), but still very cool. I especially like that an early purchase gets you a premade GarageBand file to work from. PS – Snag the awesome Holy F*ck remix here.
- MySpace Music Announced – While MySpace is certainly bound to take over all our lives soon, this does seem like pretty convenient way to listen to music on the site, something I already wind up doing.
- April Fools was awesome – For my April Fools, I told my wife I was quitting my job and taking my speed metal/free jazz band on the road full-time. She didn’t laugh.
In a move that’s becoming alltoofamiliar, The Raconteurs, Jack White’s band with Brendan Benson, have announced that their second album is coming out really soon – like next week soon.
Consolers of the Lonely comes out March 25th EVERYWHERE:
“local mom and pop Indie retailers, corporate superstores, supermarkets, iTunes, Amazon, the band’s own website and any other location that could get the record up and going this quickly (some places couldn’t move this fast, so they will join in as soon as they can).”
While I really love this marketing strategy – in a day and age where album leaks months before a record drops destroy any real first impressions of the album – 3 times by 3 major artists, and we’re only a few months into 2008? Looks like we’re going to be seeing a lot of this kind of stuff.
- South by Southwest was this week. Austin was surely party central, but we had our own mini-SXSW by listening online to KEXP’s live sets. From what I heard, Vampire Weekend and Bon Iver’s sets were both really solid.
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out this week for the Wii. My social life for the next few weeks has been destroyed.
- Apparently, Gibson isn’t happy with Activision and their Guitar Hero series. Even though Gibson has been involved with the past three games, they just now decided to worry about a possible patent infringement. Isn’t it a bit late at this point?
- Trailer for the new Incredible Hulk movie. Looks…. kinda boring, actually.
A bunch of stuff that I’d want to cover, but I’m feeling way too lazy for them to get their own post.
- Muse announce new live CD/DVD, HAARP, showcasing two dates at Wembley Stadium, comes out April 1. The trailer is here and looks awesome. Of course, I’m such a dork I bought a non-region DVD player so I could get their first live DVD.
Looks like Trent Reznor is yet again pulling a Radiohead by announcing he has a new album coming out… and you can download it right now for the low, low price of FREE.
Ghosts I-IV is a 36-track “soundtrack for daydreams” available for $5 for the whole deal, or you can check out the first 9 tracks for free. For you obsessives out there, there’s also the somewhat ridiculous $300 “Ultra Deluxe” set. Somehow that $80 discbox thing Radiohead was selling doesn’t sound so bad now.
