Sebastian Payne

Today, Radiohead finally saw sense and their latest album In Rainbows is now available on the iTunes Store. Various reasons have been passed around why none of their music was previously available online, the most common being that the band did not want their albums broken up into singles, ensuring you listen to the whole thing as a masterpiece (as well as avoiding the loss of the extra income). The reasoning behind the sudden change in direction is unknown and none of their other albums are available. Whether they will be available the future is unknown at this point.

Personally, I disagree with their point of view as other bands have put their put their concept albums onto iTunes without any fuss. Take Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd - one of the finest examples of a concept album ever produced that has been available on iTunes for a long time as well being iTunes Plus compatible. Sure you can buy Money or Time for 79p but would you want to? Each song segues into another so listening to just one doesn't give you the complete experience. The band created the album to flow and although Money was issued as a single, this wasn't the intended medium. Why do you think they played Speak To Me --> Breathe --> Breathe Reprise at Live 8? It's what they do best.

My opinion is that Radiohead should trust customers like Pink Floyd and countless others have done. Those who want a particular song can buy it but those who fully appreciate the music will buy the album. I haven't purchased the album but I did download a copy (through their scheme of 'pay-what-you-want') free to sample the album. I'm not a Radiohead fan and would not spend £7.99 on an album from them but wanted to see what the fuss was about. With my music critic hat on, In Rainbows is a fine album that ranks with the best of their work but it is certainly not my cup of tea.

This process works well, even if it is unknown how well the band did from it. From a consumer point of view, you get the sample the whole thing but if you want the real thing, you go and buy it. Their next steps of the band will be interesting - will their previous albums appear? Will they release future albums in a similar method? Who knows, but it's an interesting time to be an observer of the music industry.

(Source for this entry is TUAW.)