Radiohead's revolution reminds us all

After Radiohead’s contract with EMI/Capital expired, singer Thom Yorke and the band decided they were sick and tired of the corporate music scene and would do their own thing. I figured they’d release their new music – In Rainbows - on their own label and rely on iTunes or Amazon to handle the distribution.

 

But they didn’t go this route. Instead, Radiohead told people they could get their new music online and – here’s the radical part - pay whatever they wanted for it. No set $9.99 like iTunes. No minimum. You want to pay $1? Then pay one buck. Whatever you feel like paying, whatever you think the music is worth.

 

Can you imagine this happening a few years ago? Not only did Radiohead have the server capacity to make it happen, it also had the guts to say “screw you guys” and turn music into a loss leader. Like Madonna, they figured out the real money is made touring, cutting sponsorship deals, selling merchandise and the like. Fixing new music pricing? Fugettaboutit.

 

The In Rainbows release was a massive smack-in-the-face, wake-up call to the music industry. It’s also a reminder, to each of us, that the massive transformation of online people power is real, ready and now.

 

A rock and roll band has tremendous confidence because they understand the loyal community they’ve built over the years can be tapped, engaged and mobilized. They can leverage this themselves; they don’t need some third party behemoth controlling their destiny. Letting Radiohead fans pay what they want for new music is confidence personified. Treat people the way they ought to be treated and fans become even more loyal. It’s such an obvious radical shift, isn’t it?

 

The mainstream music industry doesn’t “get it” because they don’t want to get it. They appear to make moves in the right direction, but they’re largely frozen in their tracks. Yorke told Time magazine that mainstream music is “a decaying business model.”

 

We see this “power to the people” dynamic every day in the communications business and tech industry. Ordinary people are growing in power and clout. Citizen-driven online communities are increasingly determining what’s hot, not product marketers. More and more, online communities are setting agendas; not corporate boardrooms. Grassroots citizens are shaping what’s news. People have the power to keep companies honest and call out those who don’t behave ethically.

 

This is just the beginning. Not just for the music industry, but for every business, every industry, everywhere. John Lennon would have loved this revolution.