Dollars & Cents?

This week, The Charlatans have announced that their album is to be given away free, via XFM, and that Radiohead are giving away their album for what the purchaser thinks it is worth. They are not the first to do this. Earlier this year The Crimea allowed their album to be downloaded for nothing. Last week, US based British rock band Fono did the same. I downloaded the Crimea album, but according to my iPod, I have never listened to it. Why? I think it’s because I don’t respect it. Why did I download it then? Because it was free and I am greedy. One of the perks of reviewing for a music website, however small, is free music. When I received the first CD filled jiffy, I was elated. Free music! And all I have to do is write a few words about it! Last year though, whilst writing for a different site, I used to receive a package a day, sometimes stuffed with two or three CD’s. Whilst this hardly makes me the new John Peel, I used to feel a sinking feeling as I opened every package, as 9 times out of 10 the contents were dismal. I had no respect for this free music. By and large, it didn’t mean anything to me.

So now chatrooms and message boards up and down the land are full of people going “I gave Radiohead 1p for their album LOL!”, people feeling very satisfied with themselves. For me, it’s a dead-cert that if their seventh LP was released conventionally in the shops, I would buy it. I like Radiohead. They’ve never let me down. Whilst they are not in my top ten I can always rely on them to produce something interesting. Heck, I even like Kid A and Amnesia. But I must admit, part of me is puzzled by this move and I have to ask – does this devalue their music at all? And will I still respect it the way I would if I purchased a physical copy. The Charlatans are different, I had Some Friendly on tape but have never even given them a second glance since then. Yet I will probably still download it, because its free. Because it has no value. Both financially, and emotionally.

My iPod is jammed with songs I have never listened to. Fifteen, twenty years ago, I would have been agog at this concept, the thought of possessing music that I had not even bothered to play would stagger me. Should this trend of free downloads and music given away with newspapers continue, it is clear, as always, that it will be the little guys that will suffer, the new bands who do not have the financial backing or the option of filling Arenas to make their money. I want the decision making that goes behind choosing the music I purchase to be personal again. I want it to mean something. My CD and record collection used to the most precious possession in my life. If my house was burning down, the first thing I would do is fling wads of albums into bin-liners whilst the walls crackled around me. Now, I’d just grab my Ipod and leg it. I guess this is progress, but there is something about it that doesn’t quite feel right.

So how much are you going to give Radiohead? I haven’t decided yet. My light side says £7.99, the price of an album download at the iTunes store. My dark side is saying “1p LOL”. What do you think? What price can you put on an album?