“ It was an impressive accomplishment, if only an intriguing first step in a new direction for the business as a whole. This revolution, as successful as it was, could have used a few tweaks: the low-bit-rate digital release was slipshod; after two months, the Radiohead Web site stopped offering the name-your-price MP3 files; and the band ended up tying its fate to a traditional record label (albeit an independent one) rather than pioneering a new marketplace dynamic. Perhaps that was too much to ask of any band.
An excerpt from an intriguing book - I wasn’t too sure about this until I got to this last paragraph (quoted above). People have a tendency, as Kot points out, to ignore the importance of past major label support in Radiohead’s success with In Rainbows, but here Kot really gives the band the credit they deserve while keeping it in check with the reality of the situation. It’s interesting to see so many books and articles coming out trying to analyze what’s happened to music in the last decade… I wonder how much of it will help, but I suspect it can’t hurt.
-Katonah
3 years ago