extra notes, "The Sound of a Brand New World" commentary posted 10 Jan 08 (1) I remain astonished at how willing people are to reveal their own characters inadvertently via the words they use to criticize others. Major label promoters know all too much about "marketing ploys" designed to make someone "relevant again." They know very little, on the other hand, about serious musicians composing and recording significant music. The idea that Radiohead was trying to become "relevant again" is unequivocally senseless. [return to main commentary page] (2) In the aftermath of Radiohead's initial announcement, arguments arose claiming that a future in which no one pays for CDs would be very hard on up-and-coming bands. Radiohead, goes this argument, was given the chance to foster a large fan base by being on a major label all those years. "But at some point in the not too distant future, the music industry will run out of artists who have had major label support in helping them build a huge fan base," according to Michael Laskow, CEO of Taxi, an independent A&R company (quoted in the comScore press release; see below). "The question is: how will new artists be able to use this model in the future if they haven't built a fan base in the millions in the years leading up to the release of their album under the pay what you'd like model?" This is a blustery argument that falls apart upon inspection--as noted, thankfully, by Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail. Anderson asserts that the vast majority of small, fledgling bands are in fact poorly served by the record labels in the current paradigm. He believes these small bands, very much lacking fan bases in the millions, "have nothing to lose by letting their music go free, nothing to lose but the prospect of becoming indentured to companies stuck in last century's model of monetizing music." It turns out that bigger bands like Radiohead have nothing to lose either, however, if the In Rainbows episode is any indication. It's also by the way worth noting that the Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen and Ingrid Michaelson, among others, have shown that an artist can in fact build a large fan base without a major label, thanks to the internet. [return to main commentary page] (3) It is no small irony here that the music industry itself is largely responsible for creating a generation of people who don't feel the need to pay for music. Had the industry been willing to embrace digital music from the outset, things would be very different today in terms of who downloads what and for how much. [return to main commentary page] (4) I've noticed something of a backlash against the band in the blogosphere as well. When Radiohead originally announced the In Rainbows plan, some of the snarkier blogs unleashed their snark. For instance, this post, in one well-regarded blog: "You know, I could give two shits about what, if anything, is going on with Radiohead, but I figured posting about the announcement of this In Rainbows thing, hoax or not, would be an interesting experiment for the old referrer logs. Let's see." Note that this blogger did not bother to say that he doesn't like Radiohead's music, which would be a good opinion (although not an opinion I agree with). Clearly he is entitled to his own taste and may well not find anything in Radiohead's work that he enjoys listening to. Instead, he chose to express his dislike for Radiohead in an aggressive and demeaning way. "I could give two shits about" does not mean "I don't like"; it means "I disdain." Something you disdain is something you perceive as having no worth. This is unarguably a bad opinion of Radiohead. Their artistic worth is clear to many who have no personal stake in the matter. They have secured a place in the history of rock'n'roll, while (notably) attracting the admiration of many outside of rock as well. They are knowledgeable and inventive musicians, grappling to make something of a genre some have written off as moribund. It's fine not to connect with what they do. To pretend that what they do is worthless to the point of not needing, ever, to take up any space in your awareness is laughable and childish. And yeah, sure, dude, your blog's traffic is more important to the world than a new Radiohead album. Sheesh. I can't believe these bloggers get to write like this day after day. [return to main commentary]