Both Jamiroquai and Oasis are not contracted to record labels and are rumoured to be considering following Radiohead by offering music for free, according to industry sources.
Google say that searches for Radiohead have increased tenfold this week as fans log on to the band’s site, with the majority – according to the band’s spokesman – spurning the opportunity to download the album for as little as 45 pence and instead signing up for the £40 box set, which includes vinyl records, CD and artwork.
The Charlatans are also offering fans their next album completely for free if they visit the site of radio station XFM.
The performers that give away their music for free are expected to make their money from sales of concert tickets and merchandise.
The Bottom Line: KOAR was expecting this to happen. Older acts trying to capitalize off this press. Do you really think Oasis is going to WOW the press like Radiohead? Oasis is an older act that primarily generates revenue through touring not record sales. Also, the only decent Oasis records were ‘Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. I have a good feeling that Oasis knew that they will never deliver another sucker punch record like they did in 1995, therefore deem it as a “worthless” promotional piece. See you on the road Noel!
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerpt [ noel.jpg] Both Jamiroquai and Oasis are not contracted to record labels and are rumoured to be considering following Radiohead by offering music for free, according to industry sources. Google say that searches for Radiohead have increased tenfold this week as fans log on to the band’s site, with the majority – according to the band’s [...]
I doesn’t make sense why an artist wants to eliminate future profits by giving away free music. Why not profit from all the products including cd’s, tickets, and merch.
Some artists make poor business men -orsuffer from bad management in the case of oasis.
I couldn’t have ageed more. Oasis only made one good record.
Who the heck is jarimoquai?
They are a relatively unknown band that never broke in the US. Suprised they were even mentioned.
Artists are just lazy today. It takes on second to put on a guitar strap and strum a guitar but it requires effort and creativity to make a great record. I’m passing on the oasis tour and I’m not buying a tshirt either, but thanks for the free coaster.
Tina
tina, i have to disagree with the, today’s artists are lazy sentiment. that’s the kind of blanket statement i have a hard time with (just like the: all of today’s music sucks). most artists i know (myself included) put the time in before they ever hit the studio. if a record is to be great, the effort and creativity must start with the player, not the producer. sure, strumming the guitar may take only a second, but the song writing process can take days…months..years even… pre-production and tracking instruments and vocals in a studio setting can take from days to weeks for a single song. so it’s not like the artists have it as easy as you make out.
a huge problem with mainstream pop and rock recordings today, is what i have heard producers term, “polishing turds”… so they edit the hell out of the tracks, and you have this crappy song that sounds inhumanly perfect.
all i can say is quit listening to the radio and mtv(joking) and go out there and find new music that moves you. it is out there i promise. people need to quit depending soley on label and media telling them what to listen to (filters, hahaha), stop being lazy asses themselves, and use the limitless resources out there to find the music they love. c’mon there are tons of great bands out there!!
j
We’re getting into dangerous territory here. If this ‘business model’ works for Radiohead, then good for them, but there is no evidence at all that it will work for EVERY band that used to be on a major label. Bands like Oasis and even Jamiroquai (who I didn’t know was even active anymore), cannot assume that their fans have the same kind of rabid relationship with their music that Radiohead fans do.
I thought iTunes and Bob Lefsetz claiming music has very little value was bad, but now the artists think it too?? I feel like I’m stuck in a bad episode of the Twilight Zone! If artists keep giving music away for free, there is really only one possible outcome for bands just starting out. They will require corporate sponsorship just to exist. Being in an active band costs MONEY, and as new artists can tell you, that money is near impossible to make solely on your own. That’s why labels exist! They are investors that allow artists to keep making their art without worrying about non-creative issues.
We don’t live in Canada where the government throws money at creative endeavors because they believe it enriches their society. We live in America, where its every man for himself..culture and society be damned. Who is going to pay to get these bands the equipment they need? Who is going to pay for them to get in the studio? Who is going to pay for them to be on the road? At the very early stages, bands generally have day jobs that can help get them started, but it is unreasonable to think that the art of music won’t suffer when musicians have to hold down bullshit jobs to help make ends meet, or sell out to whoever is willing to keep them out of Starbucks and on the road.
If you think music sucks now, just wait to see how shitty it is in a few years when bands turn into walking, talking commercials for whoever is willing to pay for them to be artists. Am I the only one who is completely freaked out right now by the chaos surrounding music????
J-
I believe claiming that a lot of’ great bands are out there’is a blanket statement. Searching for great music is comparable to finding a needle in a haystack. Just look at american idol for instance. They audiotined 30,000 singers last year and couldn’t find a star. Now if you believe that music is great today that is a mere opinion. I can tell you that you are the minority though and to each its own.
People keep saying it’s an outrage that artists are giving away their music for free, as if people won’t get it for free anyway. Come on. They’re going to pay the same amount in the end, in fact they might even pay more now that the money is going to you. Might as well give it away and collect the street cred, if nothing else. One of the main justifications people have for not buying music is “the artist doesn’t get any of it” or “they’re rich anyway”. If money starts going directly to the bands themselves we’ll see if the former holds true or if people are just looking for anything to justify a free ride.
Sure Keith, people also get free cable by buying black boxes (illegal converters) so cable companies should give away free cable so they can completely annihilate the business.
I love how Ted used the example Keith used a few days ago. Classic.
Tina – Lazy… do you want to know what lazy is? Lazy is showing up at a karaoke cattle call hoping to spend six weeks with vocal coaches, stylists, & songwriters, whoring yourself out on national tv expecting fame & fortune to land in your lap by the end. Lazy is refusing to put any effort into finding new music, depending on a glorified Star Search to expose you to listenable music, nevermind the cream of the crop. Do you have any idea what these auditions are like? Do you think any artist with a shred of dignity would subject themselves to such bullshit? There is nothing wrong with today’s music.
You should also note that using phrases like “to each his own” & “that’s a mere opinion” strip your own comments of any validity unless you back them up with some kind of evidence. That sort of condemnation is a two way street.
And you should also track down the definition of “blanket statement.” Or you could just wait for it to show up at a talent show, since that’s how things work in Tina Land.
What everyone seems to be missing is that music has no set value. I can name off a slew of bands who’s music is worthless to me. It might be of value to some else, but there’s no accounting for taste. Some music I would pay more for than other music. This is important because taking into account this unique relational aspect allows people to connect emotionally with certain music. Music should naturally affect people differently… when you try to affect everyone the same amount, things go off track. Music becomes cheap & unaffecting. This is where the music industry has been missing the mark. In addition to distributing music, they have commercialized it. Would you go to an art exhibition & say “How much are your paintings each?” Of course not. Because not all art is created equal.
When you are making art without commerce in mind, it has the ability to affect quite heavily. For that reason, bands with uncompromising musical integrity… Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Tool… aren’t at risk in allowing fans to choose a value of the music, as the fans have been MOVED. I would include Oasis, arrogant & self-indulgent as they are, on this list. I know it’s really “cool” to hate on those phenomenally successful bands who don’t follow it up with American Top 40s, but there are enough people in the UK to fill Wembley Stadium several times over who would laugh at your quips. Plenty of them would volunteer money for new material, also. And just so you know, Layla wouldn’t be a Top 40 hit today. Stairway to Heaven was never a hit. Zeppelin was never even played on the radio. And what’s the demand for their reunion? Don’t give me some bullshit about “never another suckerpunch record.” That implies that the labels & radio can actually judge the quality of a song, which we all know to be far from the truth.
Now the thing about a successful record is that in addition to paying for itself, it pays for all of the failures. Maybe Radiohead wouldn’t be where they are now withing EMI’s marketing, but their bottom line would also be a lot different if EMI hadn’t released a bunch of duds. Should Radiohead have to cover what could be construed as poor A&R work? (Or poor marketing, or… you name it.)
Also taken from the sale of a $.99 cent song might be packaging & distribution costs, breakage charges, & god knows what else on top of the cost of the actual recording (which is ridiculously bloated to begin with). Why NOT strip these bullshit “costs” if you can? Sell the album for what you would’ve made, anyhow… $1.50. There are people, after all, to whom the record isn’t worth $15. But maybe $1.50. Maybe even more… maybe $5… allow them to pay $5. Maybe it’s worth $20. If it’s worth $0, they wouldn’t have bought the record, anyhow. Who CARES if they have it? Like Tim said, on average the fans are paying full price & Radiohead is BANKING.
I mean… the “value of music” is supposedly being sacrificed on the alter of spectacle & THIS is what causes people to speak up? Are you KIDDING ME? The value of music has been dropping for YEARS & Radiohead has had absolutely nothing to do with it. There are many who are much more deserved of the criticism, most of them among you. They’re the piloting the industry into the sea.
AJ -
Yes, I’m just as freaked out about the music industry as you are.
John –
I don’t think American Idol is king of artistic values and freedom, but i can tell you that some contestants have a harder work ethic that many bands on the scene. Remember, it takes time and effort to enter the competition. You even need to fill the gas tank and maybe even drive a couple of hours to the competition -Much more effort then throwing a couple of riffs together and throwing it up on myspace.
Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, and Clarkson are mega stars because of their talent and desire. They went above and beyond buying the friendbot and hitting the enter key.
In fact, producer kingpin Howard Benson who has recorded many of the greates acts has said Daughtry has one of the best voices he ever worked with. His ideas were stunning as well.
When I said – “To each it own” it was referring to the state of music. I dont think i need empirical evidence, its more common knowledge. Of course LA REID and Rick Rubin discussed the lack of the quality of music today as well. Never trust the News when they say the market is doing well, just ask consumers.
Do consumers have extra money in their pockets? NO.
Are consumers going out of the way to buy records? NO.
The point is music has very little value today. Music has become a commodity. Actually, the word commodity wouldnt even be an accurate description, its beyond that.
Music has lost value becaus of the internet. Every kid either wants to pick a up a football, a baseball, or a guitar. Unfortuantely, a guitar is more likely because you have a big green field waiting for you called Myspace, purevolume etc. You even have a promoter waiting for you called a friendbot that can get you imaginary fans. You can even peform on an imaginary stage on second life.
Making a record no longer requires work. Imagine having a bionic arm that throws a 98 per hour fast ball?
Tina
“Do consumers have extra money in their pockets? NO.”
Let’s not forget that the shit-storm of a movie, Spiderman 3, made over $150 MILLION its opening weekend, and has grossed more than twice that total, just in the US. Movie tickets are more expensive than CDs.
Kids have plenty of money, they just aren’t choosing to spend it on music…at least not conventionally. Guitar Hero 2 sold nearly 300,000 copies its opening week, and not only was it NOT the highest selling video game, but the full game costs as much as a large music box set.
There are 2 issues when it comes to music downloading.
1. You don’t lose any sound quality when you put something illegally onto the internet.
2. People feel absolutely no moral conflict when it comes to stealing tracks off the internet.
I wouldn’t BLAME the internet for allowing this to happen, or even for making it so easy. However, its simplicity COMBINED with the overall lack of respect for music (coming from both inside the industry and outside it), has allowed this problem to escalate. While I actually really like the Radiohead idea and think it could work out nicely for them, with the rest of the industry in such turmoil, it seems everyone is looking to this method as what the new industry should look like. That’s dangerous stuff. I think Radiohead, and other superstars in music who have the money, fanbase and resources, should be seen as the exception and not the rule. There is no future for new music if this model is adopted across the board.
if going on a talent show and regurgitating others’ music takes more effort and creativity than say, writing your own song and going through the recording process; then tina land must be a crazy place to visit.
oh… and yes, i guess it is my opinion that there is great music out there. to me, being a “star” does not make your music great…. and very often, becoming a “star” is not the result of having great music.
i can give examples of today’s artist i like. hit me up and i’ll give ‘em. then, you can let me know why each one is so awful.
j
j
I never said going on a talent show and regurgitating others’ music takes more effort and creativity than writing your own songs and going through the recording process.
I said going to talent show takes more energy and effort by “today standards”. The Beatles wrote a song a day, Bruce Springsteen spent 15 hours straight coming up with the thunder road chorus.
Bands spend little effort on the recording process, just cant wait to network on the internet. Thats why the majority arent interested in new music. This is why we have over 500,000 releases. Everybody can make a record. Set up a mic, strum a couple of chords on the acoustic guitar and sing your heart away and complete the record.
Any industry executive knows that finding a great band is like finding a needle in a haystack. Now its comparable to finding a pin in the red sea.
Would love to hear the new bands you believe are great. I have a feeling it is acoustic based, folk, indie, not uptempo! If not, i stand corrected..
Tina
“if going on a talent show and regurgitating others’ music takes more effort and creativity than say, writing your own song and going through the recording process”
Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and U2 were all discovered from talent shows.
Gerry Goffin was one of the first people to take notice of Kelly Clarkson’s talent and had hired her to do demo work in his studio prior to her auditioning for American Idol in 2001. She had also written many songs before Idol. One of them was “Because of You” on “Breakaway”…a world-wide #1 hit she wrote when she was 16. It was also re-recorded for country legand Reba McIntire’s “Duets” album at Reba’s request. It hit #2 on the Country charts, opening up another fan base for Kelly. On top of this, Kelly shared ASCAP Songwriter of the Year honors with “Because of You”.
http://www.ascap.com/press/2007/041907_popawards.htm
It’s so funny how people view American Idol as karaoke. What’s karaoke about leading a band?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ccvE0M4MCo
Regarding the recording process, the worse the talent the harder and longer the recording process.
Opps ^^^ here is the correct address:
http://www.ascap.com/press/2007/041907_popawards.html
Tina – Have you ever made a record??? I know there are people out there that record the way you described, but c’mon most legit artists want their music to sound good. yeah, i have home demos on my page, but we put a lot of effort into it, even though our means are limited– but that was only a step. we are in the studio now, and it is a time and energy-consuming process.
what do u mean by uptempo?? i have heard plenty of uptempo acoustic based, folk, and indie songs. sounds like you have more issue with a specific genre, not new music a WHOLE.
Mark – oh no u didn’t just use an “Idol” (i hate that freakin’ term) as an argument against me.
“Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and U2 were all discovered from talent shows.” – haha, ok i can go with that!!
“Regarding the recording process, the worse the talent the harder and longer the recording process.”
Jimmy Gnecco (Ours) took 3 years to make his first record, “Distorted Lullibies”. It has taken nearly as long to make his newest record with RICK RUBEN, and he is VERY talented (IMO).
all- feel free to blast my “today’s lazy artist” tunes.
http://www.myspace.com/winterransom