In Downloads
Someone on the air with Bob Bolin described the new Radiohead release as a “profound gimmick.”
I don’t think it was Tom Moon. That’s too profound for him.
Sorry Mr. Moon and Philadelphia critics in general.
I did not participate in the first large-scale record release that mattered since Use Your Illusion I & II.
I am not comparing G’nR & Radiohead by any stretch of the imagination. That’s a conversation not worth having and even the thinking about the conversation not worth having is not worth doing.
With Radiohead's download release they get to say, or ask...
How much is our music worth to you? We want to know, or at least we are letting you name your price.
Yes it draws attention to the band and makes this ‘not just another Radiohead release’
But that band doesn’t have to worry about that with its followings. I still am pouring through that stupid Thom Yorke record.
Oh, Robert Christgau called the In Rainbows release a “profound gimmick.” Credit where credit is due.
I’ve written about this before but having access to my record collection on my office machine or on a machine I carry with me has changed the value I place on my beloved music.
It has made much of what I listen to a commodity with limited value…in terms of time – how much time I spend on a record. Most decent shit gets a good deal of my attention over a short period of time and then sort of embeds itself in my various shuffle playlists that I call up based on mood.
Radiohead’s Name Yer Price promo is a variation on that theme.
Again, I don’t give a shit about this from a marketing or marketing music perspective. I don’t give a rat’s hinder about that.
I just like the way they ask the question.
Finally, in the category of 'weird random shit I found on these internets' - here's ashow I wish I went to in DeKalb:
Braid live @ 7 Dead Arson
I don’t think it was Tom Moon. That’s too profound for him.
Sorry Mr. Moon and Philadelphia critics in general.
I did not participate in the first large-scale record release that mattered since Use Your Illusion I & II.
I am not comparing G’nR & Radiohead by any stretch of the imagination. That’s a conversation not worth having and even the thinking about the conversation not worth having is not worth doing.
With Radiohead's download release they get to say, or ask...
How much is our music worth to you? We want to know, or at least we are letting you name your price.
Yes it draws attention to the band and makes this ‘not just another Radiohead release’
But that band doesn’t have to worry about that with its followings. I still am pouring through that stupid Thom Yorke record.
Oh, Robert Christgau called the In Rainbows release a “profound gimmick.” Credit where credit is due.
I’ve written about this before but having access to my record collection on my office machine or on a machine I carry with me has changed the value I place on my beloved music.
It has made much of what I listen to a commodity with limited value…in terms of time – how much time I spend on a record. Most decent shit gets a good deal of my attention over a short period of time and then sort of embeds itself in my various shuffle playlists that I call up based on mood.
Radiohead’s Name Yer Price promo is a variation on that theme.
Again, I don’t give a shit about this from a marketing or marketing music perspective. I don’t give a rat’s hinder about that.
I just like the way they ask the question.
Finally, in the category of 'weird random shit I found on these internets' - here's ashow I wish I went to in DeKalb:
Braid live @ 7 Dead Arson
posted by edP | 7:19 PM
5 Comments:
That was the first show we had at the store. One of those fucking bands walked off with my fancy Shure 55SH microphone.
I'm still pissed about that. Fuckers.
Ed - about the Radiohead thing, it definitely has marketing significance (it's a middle finger to the RIAA, for sure) but I don't think they're asking you how much you value them. I think the idea is to give this away for free (my cubicle partner left the payment box blank and it skipped the information stage and went right to the download screen) but they left a "tip jar" open. If you think about all the layers of crap your $10-16 for a normal CD goes, Radiohead probably gets $.50 per CD through traditional means. This way, if you give them $2 for a FULL RECORD, everyone wins.
I've only listened to the whole thing once and I can definitely say that it's not their best work. I started losing interest with the last album, in fact. But, I highly recommend that you download the album, anyhow, for it's paradigm-shifting significance. I'm hoping it grows on me so I can also appreciate it more on an artistic level.
p.s. - if you want the whole video to show up in your blog post, just copy the "embed" code (instead of the URL) and paste it in where you type the words for your post. It's like magic!
It's actually kind of funny to hear the NPR pledge drive people comment on this ("Wow... What a novel concept...").
Anyhow, Todd Rundgren tried something similar a while ago. His model was more subscription based, which is interesting to me because it's not tied to a specific product. Basically, it's saying, "if you like what we do, help us keep doing it." It doesn't look like PatroNet is still functioning, so maybe it was just a profound gimmick.
Gimmickus Profundus was the only Aquinas I could understand.
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