英语论文网

“Who needs a record company?” (Fortune)

Radiohead released the most talked about album in 2007 ‘In Rainbows’ available for download from their website and then asked all fans who were interested in owning the album to pay a sum of money which they believe the album to be worth, fixing a minimum charge of around 2-4 pence. Radiohead realised the way in which the market seek the internet to find new music and to see the availability of music that they can download.

Radiohead, not only released their album on the internet for free digital download for listeners to rank, they also released the album without their previous record label EMI. By releasing this album off their own backs, Radiohead see a substantial amount of profit from their sales which would otherwise be taken as royalties and cuts from their label. According to COM Score, the average Radiohead fan paid around $6 for the album which will have gone straight to Radiohead.

These days there are plenty of artists and groups who are releasing music and attempting to sell their music without the help and support of a record label. There is no reason why Coldplay or Robbie Williams couldn’t do it alone, they both have enough money and all profits would be earned directly, or on the other hand their labels will have to think about working with artists and bands, providing money upfront instead of relying on CD sales and downloads.

After the ongoing discussions and debates between labels and music companies about the ever expanding digital domain, EMI have scrapped the efforts to stamp out online distribution with a move which will see EMI in favour of liberal licensing agreements. The label has decided to back digital downloads as they set to release over 140,000 songs for download over the internet, and their actions and intensions have been welcomed by many music firms.

“EMI is now providing consumers with the music they want in a way that is faster, safer and more adaptable than is currently available on any of the current services and it's legal”,

Said Tony Wadsworth, Chairman of EMI Recorded Music UK & Ireland.

One of the major benefits of this decision is that new music will be available on the internet, possibly up to two weeks before the CD are sold in stores, meaning buyers can beat the pirates to their ‘safe’ copies of their chosen music. Mr. Myers, who runs ‘Wippet’ said he believes Universal and BMG will follow suit. But, does this then mean that the internet will become EMI’s biggest method to sell more music and will this eventually have a major affect on our high street stores and the way we buy our products?

The movements of such bands like radiohead have shown independent and unsigned artists that there are other ways to make profits from their music without the need and backing of a label. The implications of this method make it easier for artists and bands to have their music heard with a new way of selling it, without relying heavily on a major label to back them. These implications also raise questions about the future values of music in tomorrow’s digital world. Amateurs and new bands that begin at the botto本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。