Thursday, August 6, 2009

Radiohead Spurns iTunes, Lets Fans Set Album Price

How much would you pay for Radiohead's next album? No really, they want to know. The band is once again eschewing the iTunes route and allowing fans to pay whatever they want for the next Radiohead album, set to debut Oct. 10.

Visitors to inrainbows.com have the option of ordering an actual CD or a digital download and naming their own price - provided it is more than 1 British penny, or about 2 cents. Discs will not ship until approximately Dec. 3, but download purchasers will receive an activation code via e-mail that will be active on Oct. 10.






I wasn't particularly a fan of the blippy, inaccessible noise that came out of "Kid A" and "Amnesiac", but "OK Computer" was on heavy rotation when lying on my dorm bed under the Christmas lights and pondering life seemed more appealing than attending my "Theories of Mass Comm" class. If I'm only going to have to shell out a few cents for a complete album, I'll probably go for it, though my credit card balances might beg me to do otherwise.

It remains to be seen whether this format will revolutionize the way music is sold, as some rock critics have suggested. I'm sure die-hard fans will be willing to shell out $10 or more for the record, but I can't imagine other artists who might be more beholden to their record labels and expensive tastes will follow suit.

Only a handful of Radiohead songs are currently available on iTunes as part of soundtracks or compilations, reportedly because the band only wanted to sell their albums as a whole rather than as individual tracks. Lead singer Thom Yorke's 2006 solo album, however, is available through iTunes.

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