Free Radiohead Album (merged)

impy78

Andy_ArT_Trigg wrote: »

The amount I would be prepared to pay is dependent on how good it is. It's a pity you can't hear it first.

It is brilliant. "Nude" is already one of my favourite songs ever.

I paid £3 (which is sincerely all I can afford) and will also buy the box set, when I get some money.

If downloading gets more people into one of the best bands of all time, then I am al for it!

impy78

Ferris wrote: »

i believed that philanthropic idea too until just the other day when i read the music week article from the management. i'm a little bit disappointed with radiohead to be honest; this was a genuine opportunity to do something truly different... instead it's just bells and whistles and the same old thing...

still, now even more glad i didn't get around to paying for it second time around

Why be disappointed? They're a rock group, not Karl Marx. Of course they're not doing it to bring peace and goodwill to all man. BUT we do get a fantastic album that some of us couldn't have afforded otherwise.

Radiohead have done everything that I have expected them to - made an effing brilliant album!

Ferris

impy78 wrote: »

Why be disappointed? They're a rock group, not Karl Marx. Of course they're not doing it to bring peace and goodwill to all man. BUT we do get a fantastic album that some of us couldn't have afforded otherwise.

i guess i thought this would be a genuinely ground-breaking and revolutionary move to empower fans and show them true appreciation. and with all the band's anti-capitalist, anti-globalisation rantings, there's always seemed to be a bit of karl marx in there.

instead it's just - by the admission of the band's own management - a cheap trick and the audio equivalent of those dvd screeners you see on dodgy pirate dvds (er... apparently...), with FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION written large across the screen at regular intervals. of course the difference here is that it's legal. ultimately though, as with the dvd screeners, it might do for some people, but any fan who really wants to appreciate the quality and beauty of a radiohead album will still have to go out and buy it.

the exercise is not totally without merit, of course. it was very clever in lots of good and bad ways. its just... disappointing...

aquarian3

I've never listened to Radiohead before and was intrigued by this experiment, I paid £3.45 for it just in case it wasn't very good and so far I'm pleased with my purchase, well done Radiohead for being brave!

Lee
-X-

Adzha

From www.whatpricedidyouchoose.com:

over 5,000 respondents, £3.88 was the average paid.

spook

I realise I'm a bit late to this thread, but I just downloaded the album today. I paid £0 because I'm not much of a Radiohead fan and I woudn't have bought it otherwise, but I wanted to give it a try. If I like it I'll support the band in future.

Unfortunately the whole experience confirmed my suspicion that the music industry still doesn't get it. The download process was painful - from the flash movie at the beginning which didn't work properly in my browser (I had to view the HTML source to actually find the link to continue) through a long drawn out process of clicking on images, only to be asked for a huge amount of personal information, including my address and mobile number (and no option to opt out of marketing - umm, no thanks). And at the end I get the album as a collection of 160Kb MP3s - pretty poor sound quality.

The problem is that, if I was a regular file sharer, I could have downloaded exactly the same album, for the same price (free), at CD quality, with about three clicks of the mouse. Until the record industry gets this, illegal downloading is not going away.

So on the whole, I think this is pretty much a publicity stunt - and a clever one - but it's not going to shake the foundations of the music industry.

Just my £0.02 (or whatever you think it's worth)