Radiohead

Having written just a few weeks ago that there is little value in anything which can be digitally reproduced and copied it was very kind of Radiohead to illustrate the point by releasing their new album free for digital download.

They are relying on a voluntary payment system, which recognises that there is no intrinsic value in the file other than what the user places on it.

Value lies in the brand and the advertising and community opportunities it generates and no doubt Radiohead will benefit hugely from continued fan support and concert attendance. A large number of fans have even paid for a special box set including other non-digital material.

However I don't get too carried away with this. I'm a great believer that it's pretty hard to invent something really new.

What Radiohead and other musicians who follow are doing is adopting the model on which television has been successfully based for 50 years. The content creator and broadcaster has to take some risk that people will want the content, and then they rely on advertising to recoup their risk. Digital delivery of music issimply an imitation of free-to-air television so it is hardly surprising that it should follow similar business models.

It is of course a very welcome development and hopefully will help chip away at the Vinyl Curtain of rights and distribution which the music industry has built to keep its content behind walls.