<http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN2937610420080430>



By Mimi Turner

LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - It was a pivotal moment for the music industry which many thought sounded the death knell for recorded music sales, but Radiohead won't be repeating its initiative to let fans pay what they want for their downloads, The English rock band's frontman said Tuesday.

"I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation," Thom Yorke said of the band's decision last October to let viewers pay what they wanted for digital downloads of the new album "In Rainbows."

"Yes. It was a one-off in terms of a story. It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do. I don't think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time," Yorke told the Hollywood Reporter.

Radiohead's decision to allow fans to pay into the online equivalent of an honesty box for the album came shortly after it walked away from troubled record label EMI, sparking acres of comment about the future direction of the music industry and the dwindling revenue pot from CD sales.

The band has remained quiet about whether the experiment was a success, with many fans thought to have downloaded the album without paying anything at all. "In Rainbows" was later released conventionally as a CD, and topped the U.S. and U.K. charts.

The groundbreaking move towards potentially free music has been adopted by a number of artists including Prince and Nine Inch Nails. Most recently fellow English rockers Coldplay said Monday that they would give away its new single "Violet Hill" free of charge, resulting in the group's Web site crashing the next day due to demand.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

was later released conventionally as a CD, and topped the U.S. and U.K. charts.

well maybe that moment in time will show the fat cats at the labels that it does work for sales as well... we will see.

Radiohead's gimmick was just that, a gimmick taking advantage of the thing that WE the real independent musicians started. It has amazed me how ga-ga all the blogs got over Radiohead's gimmick as if it was a "this changes everything" deal.

It was just a big name marketing gimmick.

Gimmick or not, they did prove that it works. They made millions off of that "gimmick" ... so hopefully that might encourage other artists to not only do something similar, but to keep doing it. As opposed to "oh gee we changed our minds" bullshit.

You didn't really think these main stream artists would learn their lessons immediately and do a total 180 in a day, did ya? lol ... they are definitely more open minded than the RIAA itself is -- but -- their heads are still shoved pretty far up their wealthy asses. It's gonna take a bit more time for them to realize that they have a better view of their money in the daylight rather than having their heads in that dark place known as Uranus. (yes, thats an obvious play on words. duh. lol)

-Dave

I will now hypnotize the squirrel....

"You didn't really think these main stream artists would learn their lessons immediately and do a total 180 in a day"

No, but I (being who I am and because of what I represent) still have to bitch about it some. Can't just give out a "pass" here. The publicity and pats on the back Radiohead received are the "carrot"

...I wield a stick out of necessity. (Someone has to do it.)