Radiohead Gives It To Us, In Rainbows

It has been over a month since Radiohead released their latest album In Rainbows. It is the band’s seventh, and once again they’ve proven brilliance in its release, both musically and economically. If you have not heard, their album is available only on their website, at inranbows.com. And you pay what you want. It’s free, direct from the band to you. This has inspired much talk in the music industry and was not expected by anyone. But after the announcement, it made sense that Radiohead would be the band with both the pull and balls to do it.

This is a band that emphasizes capitalism as an enemy, and has been ashamed in the past, simply for being popular in a very profitable industry. But they care nothing more than producing quality and meaningful music, while reaching as many as possible with their message. Money does not enter that equation. It has in the past, because to release a record, you had to go through a label for distribution. With people downloading the music anyway, Radiohead seized the opportunity to let the industry and the rest of the world have it.

The band has already made it over the hump of fame and fortune. During the Ok Computer tour in 1997, they became the one of the biggest rock bands, gaining a mass audience, critical acclaim at home and abroad, and virtually every award in music, including a Grammy for Best Album of the Year. Director Grant Gee documents their early years in the film Meeting People Is Easy. The band experienced a feeling of betrayal to themselves and all their music was about. They never once thought of tailoring their music, but felt a change in character, as their status increase in the industry and the public eye. And before that change ruined their art, they took off 3 years before releasing another album.

Since then they have remained under the pop radar, and still managed to establish a huge following with their constant evolution and unmatchable live performances. In Rainbows is a smack in the face to the music industry. Studies show that over 60% paid nothing for the album. 4% paid between $12 and $20. The rest paid somewhere in between. What they made cannot be determined yet, but they sold millions and reports indicate that they may have made as much or more than ever.

The album itself is beautiful, going back to their earlier usage of guitar and instrumentals rather than computer generated dance beats. Leader singer, Thom Yorke, continues to impress, insisting that his listener think about the world and how it pertains to us as a collective. His voice has never sounded better and the absence of electronics and technology seems bitter sweet.

Second song, Bodysnatchers: “Has light gone out for you, cause the lights gone out me. It is the 21^st century, it is the 21^st century.” Then the final song, Videotape, seems a tribute to the past and everything we once knew about technology. “This is one for the good days, I have it all here in red, blue, green. In red, blue, green.”

Radiohead has once again kept up with the constant change, and even propelled it in ways others have tried to prevent for years. There’s no doubt that their actions will inspired a mass change in how people release and acquire music. And at the same time, they give the people who do not normally take a chance on Radiohead a taste of their genius.

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Radiohead Gives It To Us, In Rainbows