Empire of the Sun

After a short hiatus, I'm back at work on more musical matters. First is a new album ...album? EP? CD? Are these terms meaningful anymore in the digital download age? Anyway, it's a composition of integrated notes and themes and motifs, will that do? They actually are related in a symphonic way, a study in classical writing...no, not classical writing...it's 2008, so it's not really "classical," is it? But it is orchestral...except that there is no orchestra, just one man and a lot of circuits...but I do play all the parts by hand, so there. Ahem, anyway, musically speaking, think of a great spaghetti western in the sky as the space cowboy sets the controls for the heart of the sunrise...

Also planned is the release of the "black box" recordings," lost tales of the Space Cadet in his sojourns into darker territory, Borg-like planets of metallic industrial goings-on. 

More on this as I find my way back from wherever it is I am...

"Something for Nothing..."

"You can't get something for nothing, you can't have freedom for free..."

So Radiohead have just released IN RAINBOWS, their first new album since, what, 2003? And the hype this time is that there's no record contract, no label, just them and their website and the "pay what you will" option. 

I wonder how much time Thom Yorke has spent studying economics. Do they really think this is a viable option, or is it a gimmick? Considering that they are charging for the "discboxes," I think it's safe to say they understand that material goods need some kind of objective pricing, at least to cover the cost of manufacturing. But sticking with the downloads, they are doing an interesting experiment, to be sure, one that challenges the very notions of intellectual property and capitalism in general. Adam Smith, perhaps the first person to systemize economics back in the 1700's with THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, talked about how wage earners were paid not by their need or labor, but by the importance or nonimportance of their jobs. (Overly simplified, but I'm not about to turn this into a history blog, do your own damn homework! ;)). 

Radiohead seem to be taking this to heart; since there is no manufacturing for an mp3, they are letting the fans determine the value of the music, no matter how much blood, sweat, and tears went into the making of the music. No matter how many hours of writing, recording, fighting, swearing, loving went into the creation of the music. Is this pure, unselfish altruism on behalf of Radiohead? Given their endorsement of NO LOGO and such, they play the part well. (But look at another bleeding heart, Roger Waters. Like Radiohead, he campaigns to "forgive the debt" of third world nations. He says this as a multimillionaire who never gave away his millions, and certainly charges a pretty penny for his return to stadium shows.) And is this a viable path for bands and artists who have not had the commercial success that Radiohead have already attained? 

Can Radiohead really survive by playing the "shmoo?" (Look it up.)

Much has been written in the past about the record companies and their predatory practices, but it has to be said that Radiohead got to the position they are at now through those same companies. But the main argument for years is that the artists saw little from cd sales, and that the internet would give the artist more money per cd/album/download. So it's not without some irony that Radiohead would allow fans to pay nothing, if that's what they chose. 

BUT, there may be something that we're all overlooking. Alvin Toffler, author of FUTURE SHOCK, has a relatively new book called REVOLUTIONARY WEALTH, dealing with the issues of intellectual property in the digital age, and the progression/evoltion of the consumer into "prosumers." (Look it up.) Anyway, the idea is that intellectual wealth of ideas, unlike material goods, is not diminished when shared, but expanded, because people are able to take those ideas and create more ideas. It's the basic idea behind freeware like Linux. If Homer shares a donut, he has less donut, and Homer is sad. But if Homer has a recipe for donuts, and shares that donut recipe, more people can make donuts, and more donuts for Homer. MMM...donuts. Donuts become a commodity. Same with music. 

But those overnight donutmakers still have to pay for the ingredients: flour, icing, sprinkles, purple stuff...for now, until we have Star-Trek inspired matter deliminators, we are bound by the laws of supply and demand. And Radiohead are still bound by the laws of physics: how much of their effort can they give away for free before they either have to sell themselves via tours and discboxes, or get dayjobs like the rest of the starving artists? Even Linus Torvals has a job elsewhere...