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Last Post 1/7/2008 3:19 PM by  Binokular
Radiohead discbox
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carry_grant
Posts:99


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1/5/2008 6:53 AM
    Am I the only person who hasn't received theirs? Got an email from waste on 12th Dec saying the discbox had been dispatched but still nothing.
    *drums fingers
    starbelgrade
    Advanced Member
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    Posts:715


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    1/7/2008 2:28 AM

    floodzer
    Basic Member
    Basic Member
    Posts:181


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    1/7/2008 4:51 AM
    I received mine on Jan 2nd. Not very impressed with it to be honest...Could have bought the CD by now anyway and that would have done me
    starbelgrade
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    Advanced Member
    Posts:715


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    1/7/2008 4:57 AM
    They creamed it on the download front, doubled creamed it on the boxsets/ USB sticks, and now seem to be double clotted creaming it on the CD release, entering at No.1 in the UK... seems like the choice of a free download turned out to be a nice little earner!
    PARTON
    Basic Member
    Basic Member
    Posts:188


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    1/7/2008 5:20 AM
    Fair dues to them, smart business and kudos for the download idea...

    thom yorke reckons they have personlly made more money from this album than any other....
    starbelgrade
    Advanced Member
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    1/7/2008 5:26 AM
    Posted By PARTON on 07 Jan 2008 5:20 AM
    Fair dues to them, smart business and kudos for the download idea...

    thom yorke reckons they have personlly made more money from this album than any other....




    True - I wasn't dissin' them! You gotta laugh though.. mega selling band sticks album up online & says "right, you can have it for free if you like, or pay us if you like.. yr choice".. then become multi-mega selling band! Gas stuff!
    Binokular
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    Posts:1665


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    1/7/2008 5:37 AM
    Yeah, it's funny for all the "new era of music distribution" hype that lots of people were still willing to pay for a physical CD release. If anything it just goes to prove that downloading isn't what's killing CD sales and that people are still willing to pay for music, even downloads.

    All you need is a decent, fairly priced, easy to use, DRM free distribution system for downloads. The Emusic model (though perhaps without the need for subcriptions) seems perfect to me. I don't believe in some hippy utopian future of completely free downloads or a dot com bubble business model of it being sponsored by advertising or "click through" revenue or other such crap.

    When youu look at all the record company hysteria about download piracy, most of the noise comes from the "big four" of EMI, Sony, Warner and Universal who blame it for their current woes, when in reality the high overhead in running these behemoths and their lack of agility to respond and adapt to the current state of things is probably more to blame than anything.
    starbelgrade
    Advanced Member
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    Posts:715


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    1/7/2008 8:03 AM
    Is anything REALLY "killing" music at all? I dunno - according to stats (if we we can believe them), CD sales are down.. but surely download sales make up for a lot of that, plus concert ticket sales are up too. And if music sales really are down, could it possibly be that there's less good music around to buy? Music killing itself? Either way, saying MP3s are killing the industry is just stupid.. they said the same thing about tapes 30 years ago!
    Binokular
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    1/7/2008 3:19 PM
    CD sales are down alright, The music industry isn't in trouble, but the "big four" of EMI/Sony/Warner/Universal who make up the bulk of it and make the most noise about "killing music" are. The indies have probably never had it better. I see a couple of reasons for the whole drop in CD sales and Big fours financial woes

    1. The utter ineptitude of the "big four" mentioned already. Fire the next A&R muppet who hands a load of cash to a commercial and artistic deadweight like Robbie Williams or Mariah Carey just as their career slides into oblivion.

    2. A lack of anything much interesting or generation defining coming out of the big four, is the likes of Amy Winehouse really the best a generation can muster? I mean Valerie is a grand tune, but meh.... it's a bit too tasteful and MOR, it's all so staid in pop music now, we're all too damn cool for top of the pops, it's all faux indie, tired hip hop, reality TV show winners and carefully determined careerism. Nothing is allowed to just "happen". Lots interesting stuff at the edge of the mainstream but even the mainstream isn't the mainstream anymore due to a general apathy towards popular music meaning you don't have to actually sell that many singles to get a number one so it's not really that big a deal anymore.

    3. Shelf space - I know, this is a really dull, humdrum retail thing, but I'm surprised no-one mentions it more. Just look at the average soulless high street record store chain nowadays, HMV, Zaavi (what an utterly stupidly corporate sounding name), Golden Discs etc. and look at what percentage of the shelf space is CDs and what percentage is DVDs, videogames, T-Shirts, Posters, books and random fanboy tat. Less CD space = less cds that can be stocked and displayed = less sales. Simple. That applies to anything in retail. Now obviously the retailers feel this is the way to go (though personally I think they're shooting themselves in the foot in the long run) but if the the record companies want to sell more music via record stores, maybe they should be trying to reclaim the shelf space. Is it just me or has browsing the average high street record store become less and less interesting? There just seems to be a smaller selection and a less interesting one, they don't even seem to rotate the stock on a regular basis, there just doesn't seem to be a reason to go there every saturday anymore.

    4. Going to war with consumer - anyone that goes to war with their customer never wins, any win is ultimately a loss. The RIAA and their european counterparts needs to stop suing the pants off everyone for sharing music and treating the people that do pay for their music like criminals by imposing restrictions on their use of that music. Instead, focus on getting paid-for downloads distributed in a fair, fairly priced, convenient, DRM free format. People want more convenience and value, not less. Fair use is fair use.

    Anyway, what were we talking about again? Oh yeah, radiohead...


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