The MP3/radio comparison is a good one, too. Reminds me of an anecdote on DJ Premier’s radio show recently — either he or one of his guests was going on about how easy it is for “kids these days” to learn about music. He recounted how, back in the day, he’d set the VCR to tape a middle-of-the-night show, and then transfer that to a proper cassette. That, he was only half-joking, took effort.

And on another subject that McArdle raises (the one about whether or not bands would pursue the “slog” that she describes), here’s a paragraph from a story from tomorrow’s New York Times on the band the National — italics mine:

They put out a mediocre first album and a second that was more promising, and they struggled, as Matt says, “to find ourselves.” That the record industry was collapsing helped them. Because there were no impatient corporate expectations to meet, they could grow at their own pace. “We never had a breakthrough moment,” says Matt. “People seemed to fall for us after listening to our records many, many times. The corporate model has collapsed, but small-label bands playing to 200 people a night can pay the bills and raise a family on it. That’s why we’ll have better and more interesting innovations.”

Full piece at nytimes.com.

Some other points I noticed; Radiohead suggested they wouldn’t be using the new system of distribution had not they not used the “old” one first …. well, for one what options did they have back in good ol’ 1985?

And perhaps it’s my nostalgia, but 1995-97 when Radiohead flourished was more to do with the musical landscape at the time. Music then was exciting. I had this feeling that almost anything could happen.

Nirvana opened the doors to bands like them, because labels had no idea what worked, and what didn’t. They just signed everything in 1991.

And you’re right…$6 pure profit per album is nothing to sniff at, considering they own the masters and the distribution and the amount of free press they generated (and still do).

Jane Siberry is a bigger example: she gave away her entire catalog on the honour-payment system years before Radiohead did, and she’s released 2 more albums independently since then.

To me, free mp3s have subplanted radio. They have more similarities in that the younger generation don’t seem to care about quality – they have horribly encoded mp3s, but it’s about the music to them – just like it was when we taped songs off the radio.

If they really liked it, they’d buy it and the same goes for today. I cannot afford to buy everything completely unheard based on a Pitchfork review…especially when you get burned once or twice (Polyphonic Spree & The Magic Numbers I’m looking at you).