Free Radiohead Album (merged)

robert_h_2

1 vote for the £40 discbox. And I get the download thrown in for free.

vinnyr_2

The terms and conditions state they can send you promotional stuff by e-mail with no option to opt out. Therefore my fee for allowing them to do so comes to the price of a Radiohead album!

Dread

Feeling guilty?

Don't, Radioheads PR and Marketing people are devilishly clever. They know most youngsters (and oldies like me) just download their music via torrents, limewire etc. so the few people willing to pay big money for it are us old sod's and we're variously getting disinterested, are too busy, are dropping off our perches so on and so on and have, to a degree, lost our desire for the newest must have releases or we simply forget about them. Radiohead have been a bit cuter than Prince by clever guerrilla marketing via word of mouth and web sites like this. Many of our younger members will download simply because it's free when they would never have considered Radioheads music as it's Mum and Dad rubbish however the band is pretty timeless and they are liable to pick up a whole lot of new converts who will go to concerts, buy older albums, start getting the merchandise (T shirts etc. which comprises a huge part of band profits) and as they have email addresses they can promote to, at least for a short time, a whole new audience.
All this for sitting in a studio for a few weeks doing what they enjoy........how sad for Radiohead.
Having said that, good luck to them, this is the future of music and they are getting smart so will be in the vanguard and will hopefully avoid the inevitable scrum when the big record companies cotton on. I personally don't believe in paying for music any longer, the profits bands and companies like EMI and Sony have made over the years is obscene, all for cutting an album and putting it on shelves. Their money ought to be made on stage and I don't grudge them a penny of that and I don't think many of them would object to that either, at least their not being manipulated by money grabbing corporations then.
Pay for their music?.........I don't think Radiohead want you to.

Rant over, thanks for reading

Stephen_Leak

jap200 wrote: »

I've just done it too - it does work for free, but now I'm feeling a bit bad that I put £0.00 and didn't actually pay a fair price for it as it is something that I really wanted anyway. I can't explain why I feel like this, but I just do.

Visit The Hunger Site and donate someone else's money to charity to repair your karma.

rabid

Dread wrote: »

They know most youngsters (and oldies like me) just download their music via torrents, limewire etc. so the few people willing to pay big money for it are us old sod's and we're variously getting disinterested, are too busy, are dropping off our perches so on and so on and have, to a degree, lost our desire for the newest must have releases or we simply forget about them.

So, the fact that you could download it for free illegally makes it alright?

Dread wrote: »

All this for sitting in a studio for a few weeks doing what they enjoy........how sad for Radiohead.

What?! A few weeks' work? However much work they have put in (and I'm damn sure that it was a lot more than that) - and let's not forget the artistic talent required that few others have - do you not think this "few weeks' work" is worth some personal reward?

Dread wrote: »

Pay for their music?.........I don't think Radiohead want you to.

Surely if they didn't they would have just made it a free download! I like to think that they have some faith in the general public to play fair, which according to this thread seems woefully unjustified.

rabid

vinnyr wrote: »

The terms and conditions state they can send you promotional stuff by e-mail with no option to opt out. Therefore my fee for allowing them to do so comes to the price of a Radiohead album!

I don't believe that such a practise would be legal.

If you take a look at the advice page you will see the following:

How do I get you to stop emailing me your newsletter?

All you have to do is to click on the link at the bottom of one of the newsletters you’ve received from us.

Gakusei

Hi Rabid (re post 86)
[I like to think that they have some faith in the general public to play fair, which according to this thread seems woefully unjustified.]
I just want say that when I ordered this (post 10 &12) it was still unclear if this was a scam. I know a number of others were in the same position and the website did not look very commercial.
If it had been a scam then you would have benefited from the people trying this out within a short time of the posting.
You now have the benefit of hindsight and also the experience of other users, so please don't be so harsh, on the early users.

If Radiohead have publicised things first like the Charlatans then early users may have had more confidence in parting with their credit card details.

BTW ~ I will be buying the album IF I like the music.

rabid

The fact that the website was linked to from the official Radiohead website, and that there had been various articles in the press, was enough for me. I heard about this a couple of days before I saw this thread, and was always planning to purchase the files.

That said, I take the point that this thread was quick to appear, and early posters may have been wary.

It still does not account for the subsequent attitude though.

captain_planet

I'm getting it and paying £2 for it, I think it will be worth more and I would pay more for it if I had to as a CD but I'm skint at the moment! I think what they are doing is great, I'm sure they aren't after money so I believe they aren't doing it as some evil markeing ploy.
How can people by cynical about this, one of the best bands ever virtually giving away their first album in 4 years!

Gakusei

rabid wrote: »

It still does not account for the subsequent attitude though.

I agree with you, although many are tying to justify their positions. (Some better than others!)