In Rainbows: Worth Every Cent?

"It's just interesting to make people pause for even a few seconds and think about what music is worth now. I thought it was an interesting thing to ask people to do and compare it to whatever else in their lives they value or don't value."

Those are the words of one Jonny Greenwood, whose band, you may have heard, released a record yesterday.  They were in answer to the following question:  'Why give people the option to pay whatever they want?'  Posed by the New York based Gothamist blog.  It's rare for Key Notes to swear out loud in work but, upon reading Greenwood's comments, an expletive or two may have slipped out.

You see Key Notes, working as he does in the marketing industry, (and yes, thanks, he does know he's the spawn of Satan) was less than impressed with all this talk of Radiohead changing the face of the music industry and, alongside Promenade and other blogs, was very sceptical about In Rainbows and its 'revolutionary' method of distribution.   While yesterday was D (for download I assume?) Day for most of the interweb and blogosphere, Key Notes bored the soon to be Mrs. Key Notes to death lamenting the demise of CDs, of tapes, of vinyl and of Commodore 64's. 

'Cheap publicity stunts will be the death of music!' was one of the phrases uttered but, having read Greenwood's interview this morning, Key Notes is prepared, possibly for the first time ever, that it may have been wrong.  The thought of placing a value on what music is worth had just occoured before.  Key Notes, like most people, usually just buys its albums in the €15 to €25 price range, grumbles for a bit about 'rip-off' and forgets about it.  But to place a value of a piece of music, something that you may well have been waiting months or years for, well that's something totally different. 

Key Notes wonders then, of the thousands of people who paid very little or even no money for In Rainbows yesterday, how many of them consider the record as worthless or indeed, upon listening, how many regretted not paying more?  Of course, the answer is probably going to lie in the amount of people who order, or, more tellingly, don't order the Disc Box.  

However, Key Notes would be interested to know how much you paid for In Rainbows, and how much you think it is worth?  Answers on a postcard or you could just comment below.

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