Free Music: The New Age Of Albums
Radiohead- Nude
AmpLive- Nudez (ft. Too $hort & MC Zumbi Of Zion-l)
Nine Inch Nails- 1 Ghosts I
Downliners Sekt- Panic! Sonic Monk
Okay, Radiohead, its time to fess up. With 'In Rainbows', you effectively broke the traditional model for an album release. Now, the idea of a free digital album is commonplace, and distributors are beginning to get worried about their profits. Many artists are quick to turn around and state that they want to release their next album free of charge, but in reality it takes a lot of planning and a certain degree of popularity to pull this off (see Prince and Radiohead). This rule, however, was made to be broken, and its happening as we speak.
Over the last month, we've had free releases of the AmpLive remixes, the new NIN (Nine Inch Nails) album, entitled 'Ghosts I-IV', and the Charlatans release, 'You Cross My Path'. Those were the big releases, but you shouldn't forget Downliner Sekts' 'The Saltire Wave' and many other smaller bands chancing their luck with this new method of releasing music (hit up the links for the download pages). And more are set to follow. The old music infrastructure is being slowly broken up, and the labels are none too happy.
Normally, I wouldn't write about this, but one thing in particular has caused my change of heart. NIN, as well as releasing the album free, have also gone as far as uploading it to torrent sites included the industry-despised Pirate Bay. A brave move, and so the avalanch begins. Since I can remember, bands have taken the opposite approach (cough- Metallica- cough), sueing until they turn blue in the face. The public always prevail, though, but NIN must be the first big band to endorse illegal downloading. Its a big step, and has some interesting implications... I can already picture it: NIN's label suing the band for illegally releasing their own music.
And to the music? Well, of the free albums I've heard, the quality has actually been noticeably superior. Free of the pressure of 'going platinum' or similar goals, the musicians are able to develop their ideas fully, and spend time on elements that yould usually be discarded early on in the production process. Basically, more freedom=more quality. And who cares about solid sales when 'In Rainbows' went platinum in the first day, selling at an average $5. Those figures result in Radiohead pocketing $6 million in the first 24 hours...
AmpLive- Nudez (ft. Too $hort & MC Zumbi Of Zion-l)
Nine Inch Nails- 1 Ghosts I
Downliners Sekt- Panic! Sonic Monk
Okay, Radiohead, its time to fess up. With 'In Rainbows', you effectively broke the traditional model for an album release. Now, the idea of a free digital album is commonplace, and distributors are beginning to get worried about their profits. Many artists are quick to turn around and state that they want to release their next album free of charge, but in reality it takes a lot of planning and a certain degree of popularity to pull this off (see Prince and Radiohead). This rule, however, was made to be broken, and its happening as we speak.
Over the last month, we've had free releases of the AmpLive remixes, the new NIN (Nine Inch Nails) album, entitled 'Ghosts I-IV', and the Charlatans release, 'You Cross My Path'. Those were the big releases, but you shouldn't forget Downliner Sekts' 'The Saltire Wave' and many other smaller bands chancing their luck with this new method of releasing music (hit up the links for the download pages). And more are set to follow. The old music infrastructure is being slowly broken up, and the labels are none too happy.Normally, I wouldn't write about this, but one thing in particular has caused my change of heart. NIN, as well as releasing the album free, have also gone as far as uploading it to torrent sites included the industry-despised Pirate Bay. A brave move, and so the avalanch begins. Since I can remember, bands have taken the opposite approach (cough- Metallica- cough), sueing until they turn blue in the face. The public always prevail, though, but NIN must be the first big band to endorse illegal downloading. Its a big step, and has some interesting implications... I can already picture it: NIN's label suing the band for illegally releasing their own music.
And to the music? Well, of the free albums I've heard, the quality has actually been noticeably superior. Free of the pressure of 'going platinum' or similar goals, the musicians are able to develop their ideas fully, and spend time on elements that yould usually be discarded early on in the production process. Basically, more freedom=more quality. And who cares about solid sales when 'In Rainbows' went platinum in the first day, selling at an average $5. Those figures result in Radiohead pocketing $6 million in the first 24 hours...
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