Fallout over Radiohead's In Rainbows continues :: Music News :: Articles

We've said it before, and we'll probably say it several more times between now and Oct. 10: Radiohead's "pay what you want" digital release of In Rainbows is one of the more interesting and potentially important album launches of our time. Say what you will about past Radiohead coverage - the constant incremental updates, hyperbole, and rumor-mongering - this one actually matters. So as the entire web-music infrastructure marshals its resources to report, discuss, and analyze the phenomenon, we'll be trying to keep readers up to date with it all.

First off today, Billboard.com reports that - surprise! - the enormous influx of traffic to the album website has slowed it down considerably. Consider alternative routes... which currently don't exist.

Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Times had a write-up on the album, with this suggestion posed near the end:

"The results of this experiment will be hard to judge unless the band reveals how many albums it sells and what people paid. It should share that information because it could be vital to the health of the music industry."

The band is, apparently, keeping some track of album sales and the prices paid. Group spokesman Murray Chalmers had this to say to the BBC:

"Although the idea is that you can decide what you want to pay, most people are deciding on a normal retail price with very few trying to buy it for a penny."

Wow, what good Samaritans these Radiohead fans are! Chalmers also reported that most pre-orders are for the $80 "discbox" version of In Rainbows, which includes two CDs, two vinyls, photographs, artwork, and a lock of Jonny Greenwood's hair (just kidding).

Taking fan charity to the extreme, some moneybags at LimeWire tried to purchase the album for $500. In so doing, they revealed that there is in fact an upper limit to how much one can spend on In Rainbows: £99.99, or $205.81.

ZDNet, meanwhile, sees the album as part of a greater business trend toward "open source" models, which promote easy access to intellectual material. Finally, self-identified "jaded rock writer" James Montgomery throws analysis out the window in a recent editorial for MTV.com, relating his past Radiohead experiences and summarizing his reaction to the In Rainbows announcement thusly:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Couldn't agree with you more, James.