Eccentrically beautiful and one of the most unique albums of the year. John Southworth hails from Toronto and with help of his band The South Seas the music is folk meets modern contemporary. I urge everyone to take a listen as I think we’ll be hearing alot more from this band. This video for ‘Life Is Unbelievable’ below is wonderfully creative. They remind me alot of Andrew Bird. You can also listen to all 19 track streaming:
well. yesterday was a hard day for many people i used to work with. aol had yet another round of lay offs (click that link, better then you think), though i doubt they will be over anytime soon. the columbus office was pretty much shut down, as everyone was let go cept for about 50 people who as i understand are on a “transition” team until jan 1, when the whole office is shut down. bad day for cbus, but it reminds me of actually how good life can be. aol was a good place to work. had it’s bad points, some terrible management at times (those i directly worked with will know who i’m talking about) but it had good benefits and a relaxed place to work (mostly) for me for 8 1/2 years.
but today i realized how great it is to work at home and how lucky i am. the fact that it finally rained here in n.c. for the first time in like 3 months. i could go out and fix a problematic gutter in the middle of the day and see what the problem was in the rain. that and play in the mud. gotta love that. i can also take a day off if i want, tell someone to go to hell if i don’t want to take a job from them and have a messy office if my wife would let me.
anyway. everyone there will land on their feet and be better off in the long term. i kept talking about leaving and year after year i was still there. it was easy to be comfortable. go, do the same thing everyday. not a great deal to worry about. now i have the experience and knowledge of how the business world works and how to actually work with it while steering completely clear of it. i’ll stay my own boss, thank you every much. i wish those who lost they employment yesterday the best and those who may in the future be in the same boat to not worry, enjoy the severance and make the best of it.
According to BBC Radio, 6 Music, other musicians are supporting the move Radiohead is making with cutting out the middle man (record labels). From Ex-Smiths Johnny Marr, “We are lucky to have them, huge bands don’t display consciousness and awareness, and it’s great they are putting the responsibility back onto human nature.”
Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails also has confirmed they are out of contract with their label and will follow a similar path, not releasing another album with the support of a label.
I think we are witness to the beginning of many changes in the music industry very soon.
I stated it before, is this the beginning of the end of the recording labels? The new album from Radiohead is important, and not just for the band, but for the future of music. Radiohead has become a major band as big of name as U2, The Rolling Stones, or other major recording artist out there. Even if you don’t like or listen to their music, this album is important because of the way it’s being released. Any album from them would be a big deal right now, but since they currently do not have a label representing them, they have the ability and freedom to do what as hey wish. Such as releasing an album with no major publicity, and without the media blitz a record label would produce.
Radiohead is a big enough band…..they don’t need it.
They probably really don’t need the money if releasing the album as a download only fails. But I don’t think it will. Allowing fans to buy the album for a price they set themselves it great. Most people I have talked to have actually been paying around $8-$10. The average price for a digital download. “In Rainbows” may have already made the band more money then previous releases. Bands normally do not make very much money from a CD being sold. On average, maybe around $2 per disk. The rest of the money goes to manufacturing, promotion, and….the record labels. Instead all the proceeds go directly to the band (I’m sure a little to the online service for distribution).
What’s even more interesting is that In Rainbows is getting more word of mouth publicity then most albums. Large (mostly corporate) websites are not talking about it because they have gotten nothing from a label asking them to promote it. This album will take o because to the average person and their blog. I would bet somewhere on most small music blogs, there is something about this album coming out. If that’s not a grassroots marketing campaign, I don’t know what is.
So, hopefully the music will live up to the hype, but with a band like Radiohead, I’d think tht will be a problem. It’s a exciting time we live in, as long as your not working for a label. Cause then I’d be a scared.
