This is hannahsgranpa, this is The Granary

There has been a previous thread on music copyright but now a couple of UK bands are taking things a step further.

Radiohead have release their seventh album, In Rainbows, as an internet download only.  Downloaders pay as little or as much as they choose.

The Charlatans made their latest single available on the web for free.

Both these groups are very well known in the UK and this is seen as a ‘get stuffed’ message to the fat cats of the major record labels.

An expensive gesture ?  Not so.  Free national news publicity without the usual rigmarole of sending promotional copies to music reviewers and radio stations, only to see pirated versions all over the internet before the CD even reaches the shops.

And both bands agree that  the real money is in live gigs – not cd sales.

So where does this leave the record companies, whose cd sales are already falling ?

If  blank cd’s can be distributed and sold for a few cents each why does a music cd cost $20 ?  Sounds like a $19 rip off to me.

When the law of diminishing returns kicks in, less cd sales will lead to higher prices which in turn will lead to more file sharing.  But if music is released on to the internet then file sharing is no longer illegal !