Want to sell music? To the innovator goes the spoils  |  October 24, 2007  

October is drawing to a close and the month probably can't end fast enough for execs at traditional music companies. First came the announcement that Madonna has ditched Warner Music in favour of a fat, fat contract with Live Nation. That company is a concert promoter, not a record label. Then came the news that Radiohead's grand experiment -- posting its new album In Rainbows online and charging fans whatever they felt like paying -- was a runaway success. The album went up on Oct. 10 and within one day it had been downloaded 1.2 million times. Some observers say purchase prices ranged between $1 and $20.

Do the math. Goodness knows the music execs are. First illegal downloading tore chunks out of their revenue, then they had to watch as Apple, a computer company, became a music retailer without peer. And now their own artists are taking an anyone-but-the-labels approach. Madonna's deal with Live Nation is worth a reported $120 million; can other artists be far behind?

It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for the big record labels. Almost. Remember back when you could buy albums on either CD or tape? Remember how the CDs were twice the price of tapes, even though the CDs were far cheaper to produce? That's when I lost all goodwill for big music.

And so I rather enjoyed paying about $5 for Radiohead's In Rainbows over at www.inrainbows.com. The purchase and download process took about three minutes and it's been playing on my laptop as I've written this. It's interesting to note, too, that I could have paid $1, or even $0.01, I suppose, but I chose to spend more. It's that goodwill thing: I like the band and their innovative business model.

I don't have much affection for the big music companies, and they've squandered the last few years railing against Internet downloads rather than figuring out how to play in this new space. It will be interesting to see if they can change the current downturn into a turnaround, or if a decade from now their simply will be no more music suits between consumers and their favourite bands.

Peter Wolchak