After the bands stunning announcement on Monday, the internet has been buzzing about the implications of a band of Radiohead's size breaking away from the traditional label model. James Montgomery of Bigger Than The Sound commented, saying:
It's testament enough to Radiohead that they've chosen to turn the industry on its ear by releasing In Rainbows on their own. It's a ballsy gamble that might just change the way established bands do business from here on out. But perhaps an even bigger compliment is that with one move, they've managed to make me -- and the majority of music journalists I know -- excited again.
Billboard magazine notes that the idea has been incredibly popular with the band's official site overwhelmed by pre–orders. Finally, the band participated in a two–part interview discussing the event:
It's really liberating not to feel part of the record company structures. It should be an extremely positive place to be in but I think at the moment it's like the cartoon bit when Roadrunner comes of the cliff and keeps running – then looks down.
You can check out the interview here.
As reported earlier, Radiohead recently unveiled plans to release their upcoming album, In Rainbows on October 10, 2007 and is asking people to "name their price." Outside of the obvious impact of self–releasing the album, the entire plan will prove to be a remarkable experiment on what people are willing to pay, and whether they will pay something – anything – when pirated downloads are available.