The One
9th October 2007, 05:55 AM
Radiohead generation believes music is free
As if the record labels didn't have enough problems, now bands such as Radiohead are putting albums on the internet for nothing. Juliette Garside reports
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/graphics/2007/10/07/ccmusic107.jpgSupporting a rock band used to be an act of rebellion. In the face of today's mounting music piracy, it has become an act of conscience.
Radiohead, the contrarian giants of British rock, last week released their seventh album on an unsuspecting public with the challenge of paying as little or as much as they chose. In Rainbows is available on the internet only, and the only compulsory charge is a 45p credit card handling fee.
In the same week indie legends The Charlatans went one better and made their new single, You Cross My Path, available from radio station Xfm's website at no charge.
"I want the people to own the music and the artists to own the copyright. Why let a record company get in the way of the music?" says Tim Burgess, the Charlatans' lead singer.
These gestures are without doubt a two-fingered salute to the fat cats at the major record labels. More worryingly for the four international companies that account for 80 per cent of worldwide music sales, they could also sound the death knell for paid-for music.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/graphics/2007/10/07/ccmusic107c.gif
With even diehard fans paying just a few pence for their album, Radiohead are not expecting a pot of gold at the end of In Rainbows. But the band has generated a fortune's worth of pre-publicity by making the release national news. And all this without the usual rigmarole of sending promotional copies to music reviewers and radio stations, only to see pirated versions all over the internet before the CD even reaches the shops.
When Prince wanted to publicise his 21-night residency at London's O2 Arena, he distributed his album as a covermount on a national newspaper. Artists with international pulling power are using the physical CD as a sampler for the real money-spinner – box office sales.
Free can work for new bands, too. It is already two years since Arctic Monkeys were propelled into music history by a fanbase that had discovered their music through illegal file sharing. With nothing to lose, they embraced free music distribution via platforms such as MySpace and eventually found a way to sell records too.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/graphics/2007/10/07/ccmusic107a.gif
Alan McGee, who made Oasis a household name when he ran Creation Records and now manages the Charlatans, says: "It is definitely the beginning of the end of the old model. Trying to fight against these initiatives is like trying to close the stable door once the horse has bolted. With the losses in CD sales, the band will get paid more by more people coming to the gigs and buying merchandise. I believe it's the future business model."
Artists are increasingly making their fortunes from live events rather than records. In North America alone, figures by industry monitor Pollstar show ticket sales have more than doubled to $3.6bn (£1.8bn) in the past five years. The Rolling Stones made $139m from touring last year, and more the year before. Stuck behind computer screens all day, we enjoy our mass gatherings, and those who followed the Stones in their youth can afford £200 to see them on stage today.
With both new and established acts now capable of making money without the backing of a big company, McGee says record labels are being left out of the loop. He scoffs at their efforts to make up lost ground by developing into "multimedia entertainment companies that can manage bands and share in live income".
But try they must. Revenues from record sales in Britain have dropped by more than £130m since 2004. The true cost to the industry could be far greater. TNS, the market researcher, looked at the spending habits of file-sharers between 2003 and 2005 and estimated a £1bn loss to the country in retail spend.
The fall in income from CDs cannot be blamed solely on the web. The fortunes of specialist retailers such as HMV and Tower Records have declined because of undercutting by supermarkets such as Tesco and online shops such as Amazon, which in turn has hit profits at the labels.
The result has been consolidation. The European Commission has finally approved the Sony BMG merger, and EMI chief executive Eric Nicoli has handed over the keys to private equity. Financier Guy Hands now owns the biggest British music company, via his Terra Firma vehicle, and one of his exit strategies is likely to be a sale of the recorded music division to America's Warner Music Group.
Before then, Hands will have to worry about not only the decline in the price of CDs but the fact that file sharing among web-weaned youngsters has led to a change in attitudes towards paying for music.
source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml;jsessionid=SPRCS3SBDUMJFQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQ UIV0?xml=/money/2007/10/07/ccmusic107.xml
As if the record labels didn't have enough problems, now bands such as Radiohead are putting albums on the internet for nothing. Juliette Garside reports
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/graphics/2007/10/07/ccmusic107.jpgSupporting a rock band used to be an act of rebellion. In the face of today's mounting music piracy, it has become an act of conscience.
Radiohead, the contrarian giants of British rock, last week released their seventh album on an unsuspecting public with the challenge of paying as little or as much as they chose. In Rainbows is available on the internet only, and the only compulsory charge is a 45p credit card handling fee.
In the same week indie legends The Charlatans went one better and made their new single, You Cross My Path, available from radio station Xfm's website at no charge.
"I want the people to own the music and the artists to own the copyright. Why let a record company get in the way of the music?" says Tim Burgess, the Charlatans' lead singer.
These gestures are without doubt a two-fingered salute to the fat cats at the major record labels. More worryingly for the four international companies that account for 80 per cent of worldwide music sales, they could also sound the death knell for paid-for music.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/graphics/2007/10/07/ccmusic107c.gif
With even diehard fans paying just a few pence for their album, Radiohead are not expecting a pot of gold at the end of In Rainbows. But the band has generated a fortune's worth of pre-publicity by making the release national news. And all this without the usual rigmarole of sending promotional copies to music reviewers and radio stations, only to see pirated versions all over the internet before the CD even reaches the shops.
When Prince wanted to publicise his 21-night residency at London's O2 Arena, he distributed his album as a covermount on a national newspaper. Artists with international pulling power are using the physical CD as a sampler for the real money-spinner – box office sales.
Free can work for new bands, too. It is already two years since Arctic Monkeys were propelled into music history by a fanbase that had discovered their music through illegal file sharing. With nothing to lose, they embraced free music distribution via platforms such as MySpace and eventually found a way to sell records too.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/graphics/2007/10/07/ccmusic107a.gif
Alan McGee, who made Oasis a household name when he ran Creation Records and now manages the Charlatans, says: "It is definitely the beginning of the end of the old model. Trying to fight against these initiatives is like trying to close the stable door once the horse has bolted. With the losses in CD sales, the band will get paid more by more people coming to the gigs and buying merchandise. I believe it's the future business model."
Artists are increasingly making their fortunes from live events rather than records. In North America alone, figures by industry monitor Pollstar show ticket sales have more than doubled to $3.6bn (£1.8bn) in the past five years. The Rolling Stones made $139m from touring last year, and more the year before. Stuck behind computer screens all day, we enjoy our mass gatherings, and those who followed the Stones in their youth can afford £200 to see them on stage today.
With both new and established acts now capable of making money without the backing of a big company, McGee says record labels are being left out of the loop. He scoffs at their efforts to make up lost ground by developing into "multimedia entertainment companies that can manage bands and share in live income".
But try they must. Revenues from record sales in Britain have dropped by more than £130m since 2004. The true cost to the industry could be far greater. TNS, the market researcher, looked at the spending habits of file-sharers between 2003 and 2005 and estimated a £1bn loss to the country in retail spend.
The fall in income from CDs cannot be blamed solely on the web. The fortunes of specialist retailers such as HMV and Tower Records have declined because of undercutting by supermarkets such as Tesco and online shops such as Amazon, which in turn has hit profits at the labels.
The result has been consolidation. The European Commission has finally approved the Sony BMG merger, and EMI chief executive Eric Nicoli has handed over the keys to private equity. Financier Guy Hands now owns the biggest British music company, via his Terra Firma vehicle, and one of his exit strategies is likely to be a sale of the recorded music division to America's Warner Music Group.
Before then, Hands will have to worry about not only the decline in the price of CDs but the fact that file sharing among web-weaned youngsters has led to a change in attitudes towards paying for music.
source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml;jsessionid=SPRCS3SBDUMJFQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQ UIV0?xml=/money/2007/10/07/ccmusic107.xml