Arts & Entertainment There’s Gold at the End of the Rainbow for Radiohead In Rainbows - Review By Mark Fisher S ince the landmark release of OK Computer, Radiohead has been out to change the face of music, and on Wednesday, October 11, they did just that. Thom Yorke and company released their seventh full- length studio album, In Rainbows, exclusively on their website, and told their fans that they could pay whatever amount they wanted for it— even nothing at all. This generated a huge buzz, and quickly became one of the music industry’s most talked about stories of 2007. Not bad for a band with no record label. After Radiohead’s contract with EMI expired in 2004 with the release of Hail To The Thief, there was much speculation from the music industry about where they would end up, and they became known as “the biggest free agents in music.” Radiohead went into semi-hiatus for several years; they did some touring, lead singer Thom Yorke released The Eraser, an excellent solo album (which I’d highly recommend listening to), and all the while music industry insiders speculated about who Radiohead’s new deal was going to be with. I don’t think very many people seriously believed Radiohead would try to go it alone, even though Yorke and guitarist Johnny Greenwood had said that they were done with labels and that their next project would be online. I dismissed the possibility myself, and vividly remember telling a co-worker who was an uber-fan of theirs that “Radiohead is talking bullshit again, of course they need a label to put out a new album,” before throwing in that “you should stop believing every ridiculous thing that Thom Yorke says.” That co-worker is probably rolling his eyes at me now, and rightfully so. Speaking of uber-fans, there is also an option on Radiohead’s website to buy a “deluxe” version of the album at a set price of 42 pounds, or about $82. For people willing to shell out that much, they get a bonus CD with additional songs, a vinyl version of the album, a hardcover book, what I presume is a really cool looking box, and the ability to call themselves hardcore fans. $82 is a definite overcharge for something like this, so in effect the fans that buy the deluxe edition cover the expenses of those who just took the album for free. This is brilliant marketing by Radiohead, 14 “The songs take Radiohead in new directions sonically, and if you liked how experimental their last three albums were, it’s a pretty safe bet you’ll like this one a lot too.” who are quite familiar with the rabid nature of their fanbase. This way, no one can say that the fans “need” to pay this amount, so they can essentially set whatever price they want without being criticized. My former co-worker probably bought one without a second thought. Some fans are conditioned in such a way that they just buy anything and everything a band puts out. Why not use that to your advantage? It turns out that I’ve been conditioned too to some degree. When I signed up to download the album and I was at the payment screen, with the now infamous words “It’s up to you” hovering above the blank box where I was to enter a price, I hesitated. It just didn’t feel right to take the album for free. I’ve always paid for Radiohead in the past, so how could I just take a whole album for free now? Besides, I’d already had to enter in my credit card information, so I paid $10, without really thinking about what I was doing. I imagine that a lot of people did the same, overflowing Radiohead’s bank account with their free offerings of cash. With no record label to take a huge chunk of their proceeds, no music store to charge for selling the album, and no marketing campaign to pay for (all .they did was announce it was free on their website), Radiohead pockets nearly 100 percent of the profit from each sale. Every time I bought a Radiohead album in the past, out of the $15 or so dollars I paid, Radiohead got about $1.25. By paying $10, I’ve essentially given the band more money for this album than I have for all of their other albums combined. My rough estimate —and this is just from various numbers that I’ve read or heard, as the band hasn’t announced any definite figures —is that Radiohead has already made about 10 million dollars in three days. So why would any band want to be on a label when they can do this Radiohead’s way? Already, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has announced that his contract with Interscope is over, and you can bet he’s going to follow in Radiohead’s footsteps. Oasis may be next, and even Jamiroquai (where have they been hiding?) has piped up and expressed a similar interest. Every one of these bands stands to make a mint even if they generate only a fraction of Radiohead’s hype. Things are definitely changing in the music industry, and I’m sure that more than a few record labels have just heard the owl call their name. I suppose I should finish by actually saying a few words about the album itself. Firstly, the sound quality takes a hit as a result the MP3 format. The songs are being distributed at 160 kps (slightly below the preferred rate of 192 kps, but still above the more common rate of 128 kps), and if you have sensitive ears like I do, this may get on your nerves, but most people won’t notice unless they have rather state of the art stereo equipment (in which case they can probably afford the boxed set anyway). That’s the only real complaint I have about the album. The songs take Radiohead in new directions sonically, and if you liked how experimental their last three albums were, it’s a pretty safe bet you’ ll like this one a lot too. What sets this album apart from any previous album is the tone. This is Radiohead’s first “happy” album. Many of the songs are uplifting, some are even hopeful, and a few are downright joyous. The dark vision and gloomy outlook on the future that punctuated O.K. Computer is almost nowhere to be found. At first I thought In Rainbows was an odd name for a Radiohead album, but after a few listens it makes complete sense. Maybe not having a record label holding them down cheered the band up, or maybe they were celebrating in advance, knowing that they were about to change the way that music is both created and distributed.