Business – KURT OF THE BURNED LEY

Furthering the music discussion from a few posts down…

So now the New York Times is reporting that Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke is releasing his latest solo project, “Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes,” via BitTorrent for a mere six bucks.

BitTorrent will take 10% off the top and Yorke pockets the rest.

That’s right, the same band that seven years ago pretty much pioneered the act of giving away music.

Well, it wasn’t an actual giveaway, per se – the deal was, a fan could set whatever price he or she was willing to pay for the download.

So yeah, it essentially was a giveaway. I mean, come on…

I remember when Radiohead first made the news for their “set-your-price” gimmick. I remember thinking how off-the-wall it was. I also remember thinking that they’ll probably lose their shirts on it. However, I don’t remember why I never “purchased” the album for myself.

Probably forgot (I like them. They’re good. But their music has never motivated me enough to want to acquire it. Even if it’s free…apparently).

But, oh my garsh, the irony of Yorke’s latest gimmick, no?

Can you just imagine if this works, if Yorke creates a new music distribution model through BitTorrent, and, presumably, through other bit torrent services. I mean, we’re talking the same type of massive file sharing services — i.e., illegal download sites — that deserves most of the blame (credit?) for crushing the legacy music industry into unrecognizable pebble dust.

And it just may work — according to the Times article, there have already been over 60K download purchases of the album.

But heck, even if it does work, it’s just delaying the inevitable. Soon there will no such thing as ownership.

Soon, like, maybe, now soon, everything we digitizedly desire will exist freely in the cloud…along with the torrent of advertising it will take to support this ethereal freedom.

But hey, I’ll take free…even if it is for a price.

Incidentally, if you want to get a copy of In Rainbows now, it will cost you a pretty penny…er, euro — £7.50, to be exact. My guess is they’re still trying to recoup that shirt they lost from the initial “set-your-price” gimmick.

[[ For a broader perspective on and the implications of Apple “giving” away U2’s Songs of Innocence, check out this thought-provoking article by A Little More Sauce: This is NOT a Gift: That U2 Album You Didn’t Ask For and the Possibility of Generosity ]]

Okay, wait a minute…I thought we were permanently ensconced — imprisoned? — in the Age of Free, in an era where either you give it away or it will be illegally downloaded from you…or ignored completely.

What gives then, Millennials, with all the outrage over Apple’s gift – gift meaning free, the word that has completely destroyed the record industry and is on the verge of bringing down Hollywood and maybe even the Big 6 (or 5…I forget) Publishers – of U2’s new album “Songs of Innocence?”

What? You only like free when it’s an illegal download?

What? You cry “Big Brother” upon seeing the free album magically cued in your iTunes player and then forget we live in the Internet Age, which is synonymous with the Age of Free, and the Age of Open Identity, the Age where you share every possible detail about your life without any care whatsoever.

What? You already forgot Snowden?

But when Apple gives you a gift, one that cost them somewhere in the ballpark of $30,000,000.00 (that’s Thirty Million Dollars for those unfamiliar with dollars since they’re so used to getting everything free), which is the price Apple reportedly paid U2 so they could give it away, you freak out as if you had just had a mind-controlling robot implanted into your brain (which you probably wouldn’t mind as long as it was done either illegally or as a joke so you could post it on facebook or whatever social network your tribe has migrated to just so you can get a flurry of “likes” or whatever.

Give me a freekin break.

Think about it. Why shouldn’t Apple reward both U2 and you, too?

Both of you have made Apple enormous, uncomprehendable amounts of money.

It was U2 and their Vertigo commercial for Apple’s iPod that assisted Apple in changing the landscape — wrecking the landscape? — of music forever.

And it is you — or more likely your parents — who went out and bought those newfangled music players by the millions so you could be happy. Because let’s face it Millennial, it’s your happiness and only your happiness that matters these days.

So stop complaining for a change — please — and sit back, relax, and enjoy your gift of free music…