http://musicgeeks.madtv.me.uk/ Keep up to date with this post on F1 Insight Clive Allen RSS Feeder-breeder by Mad This is magnatune.com's sales scheme, except that Magnatune set a minimum of $4.99 and a "suggestion" of $9.99 instead of leaving the whole thing up to you. It's a novel concept, because iTunes tends to lend itself to only downloading a song or two that you've heard before, whereas this scheme requires you to want to the whole album. Of course, despite that emusic.com also puts you in a "pick out single tracks" scheme, I usually end up downloading whole albums anyway. If I can think of only one criticism, what is the point of pre-ordering? Are they going to dictate download days to keep their server from being pounded to death on 10/10? Otherwise, we should thank a high profile artist for doing their best to lead new frontiers instead of being bested by it in the distant future. 03/10/2007 19:52:15 http://madtv.me.uk/musicgeeks/default.aspx?blogid=24 Radiohead is leading the way, with bands like Oasis and Madness considering doing the same thing. What they give away, is to their minds, a way to increase sales for concert tickets. Prince has done this with an album, to the dismay of the record company but let's face it, Prince is no longer a top recording artist. But, he does have a stage show, and it's worth it to him to drum up business for that. Radiohead seems to be accepting the future better than the record labels are. This is the generation that thinks music is free - they are the generation of napster, kazaa and youtube. What's more, fans don't seem to be taking them up on the free offer. Consider this from the Telegraph: "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". I think that fans may download the album, and decide after hearing it that they would like to have the boxed set with all the trappings. The vinyl is another thing that is getting more popular - the Sex Pistols just released their album "Never Mind The Bollocks" in a 30 year anniversary edition on vinyl. The recording labels may find that if they don't keep up with the times and find a way to reach the market that is there, that soon their market will be gone. 03/10/2007 19:52:15 http://madtv.me.uk/musicgeeks/default.aspx?blogid=24