Escape from the Star-Making Machinery: Will Radiohead Sell Out?

by John Davidson
24 July 2006

Change is hard to come by, especially if a lot of money is involved. So it’s really no surprise that, despite all the prognostication of impending doom for the music industry, its transformation to an all-digital offering has come at a glacial pace. In fact, some cling to the idea that the compact disc will be the dominant point of distribution for the coming decade. Clearly, it’s going to take a seismic shift in the current business model, the kind of shot across the bow that only a big gun can provide. RADIOHEAD is that weapon.

Radiohead is a valuable global product to the music business. The band is currently operating without a record deal, successfully touring the world this summer and previewing new songs. And if that doesn’t validate their popularity, lead singer THOM YORKE’s solo album has been a surprisingly strong seller. [The Eraser is #2 on this week’s Billboard album chart! -ed.] Radiohead is not a platinum-selling artist in the United States, but they move millions of units worldwide and are exactly the kind of act that record labels used to covet. It’s a safe bet that this band has a lot of suitors right now.

This is exactly why Radiohead should throw the music business out with the bathwater. Bands like Radiohead do not need a major record label; they really don’t even need a record label at all. They have plenty enough money to record on their own; they can easily afford independent management and publicity. They only need a record label to manufacture and distribute their albums. Who says they even need that? They’ve got the Internet.

True, Radiohead is a large enough act that it would stand to benefit from the resources at a major label. The publicity and distribution machine at a major is efficient and offers a significant competitive advantage through economies of scale, as well as what would likely be a huge advance of recording/promotion moneys over the life of the contract. But it also enslaves Radiohead to a leviathan of mismanagement and outdated business models, and no matter what a major label offers, it will demand elements of control that almost certainly will restrict the band to some degree.

Musicians typically lament that all they want to do is make the music they want to make, and then get compensated fairly for it. Radiohead is in a position to have near-full control over their art; they’ve already used the old system for development and establishment of their market but the tradeoff is, at very least, a significant lack of control over their catalog. If they forge a new way on their own (without using a record label), they not only pave a road for themselves but for everyone who will follow in their wake.

As exciting as this opportunity may sound, there’s ample reason to fear that a lack of courage will guide Radiohead’s next career move. THE DIXIE CHICKS were in the same position as Radiohead five years ago (winding down their record contract at the height of their commercial success), complaining that their record label had ripped them off. There was brave talk that they would ditch the bastards, but in the end, they re-signed with Sony. And let’s not forget PEARL JAM, another “courageous” Bush-bashing act that recently signed up with the legendary CLIVE DAVIS, whose J label is notorious for throwing millions at the marketing machine in order to make a hit happen. These bands, all of who have railed against corporate greed while becoming millionaires in the process, seem pretty happy to lie in bed with the enemy. Will Radiohead be the first to put their money where their mouth is?

Filed under music industry indie-rock