It's an interesting time to be a musician, or even just be interested in the music industry. Radiohead's recent decision to release their latest CD In Rainbows as a download where fans can pay whatever they want has turned the music industry on its ear. And naturally, people are curious what other bands think. It's pretty clear that Nine Inch Nails is heading towards this model, and other artists have expressed interest. So what does Fall Out Boy think?
Patrick said:
"I'm totally curious. Granted, these are venerable bands, but we've been looking to both those bands for other things, why wouldn't we be watching this? I want to see how it goes."
And that's the thing. What Radiohead did is great, but would it work for smaller bands? For the punk bands that we listen to? I'm not sure. Realistically, anybody can record an album on their own and release it over the Internet. A small band could manage the demand for hard-copy CDs. A mid-level band, though? They may not have the staff on hand to process orders/get the CDs to people, nor the money to hire the staff. Radiohead? Sure. They can make it happen. But what about Fall Out Boy? And what about significantly smaller bands?
It's definitely an interesting time for us all, and things are definitely changing. It took a powerhouse band like Radiohead to convince people in the music industry that downloading isn't going away, that people like MP3s, and that music isn't necessarially going to be sold via the traditional model ever again.
Now let's see what the other bands out there do; it feels like the ball is in the artists' court -- and now is their chance to make things happen, cutting deals and working out new models that work for them as well as for the fans.
