A company in California has released information that perplexes me. Radioheads new album, In Rainbows, has been downloaded more times illegally than legally off of their website, which, stick with me here, is allowing free downloads. This is kind of like, "Who's on First" isn't it? According to their records the album was downloaded 500,000 times illegally, a faster rate than the actual album was downloaded from the website.
Insanity.
They think it's because people aren't as familiar with Radiohead's website as they are with their favorite download trafficker. Maybe I am being too skeptical, but I think it's because people don't realize it's already free. Who knows - either way it's silly.
Normally I would have some sort of smart-ass thing to say to bring this to a close but I really can't even wrap my head around this one. My inclination is that this is a dynamic experiment for bands and record labels. It proves that people are losing interest in cd's, like to get everything from one location (which shouldn't be a surprise since Wal-Mart has such a stronghold) and that music no longer holds an element of value in the financial sense. Music has become a commodity* as opposed to a luxury. Didn't think you would get a finance lesson today, did you? ;)
Link
*In essence, commoditization occurs as a good or service becomes undifferentiated across its supply base by the diffusion of the intellectual capital necessary to acquire or produce it efficiently. - Wikipedia
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