This might be first time I post on your blog which I’ve browsed a few times, my name’s asma, I’m 23, relatively new to the blogging world, nice to you meet you!

This is really interesting I had no clue radiohead was doing this or that they even had a new album coming; however, they’re no longer a superband, radiohead isn’t nearly what they used to be during the days of ‘karma police’, bands like the killers and the fray and nickelback (can’t stand them) have kind of booted them out of the way and so I just can’t help but think that the backslided status has alot to do with this! Maybe it’ll help get everyone talking about them and get them back on the map!

in jordan it won’t be a big deal, you could always get whatever CD you wanted in Arabic or English from any basta

I am not going to compare Radioheads to any other bands or artists simply because I am not familiar with their music!
However, if you think about it from a business perspective, for major bands, CD sales are really minor compared to other band sales, mainly concerts sales. CDs have become more of a marketing tool for such bands with established fan based. Radioheads here has chosen to opt out the middle-man costs and therefore were able to provide the option to pay less than usual for the music, which is downloaded of course. It’s really interesting to see how the Internet is finally making Drastic change to the records industry :)
Thanks Roba for pointing this out!
I have heard that Prince’s CDs are being distributed with the Sunday paper in England. Although I don’t think that his concerts generates that much profit. No?

Roba, thanks a lot for sharing this. This is not the first time Radiohead takes this sort of “anti-corporate” approach to marketing their album. Kid A (one of the industry’s paramount albums) was actually brought into the world without any singles (in order to guarantee zero exposure through TV and radio stations), no live performances even prepared for the album’s introduction (normally bands try to test out new songs and try to learn how the crowd reacts to the song) and the album was available for download (for free of course) through the Internet and through the band’s website, prior to the release of the album. After releasing the album, Radiohead didn’t bother to do promo tours, and instead, the band opted for more underground and less publicized concerts. Some even say that Radiohead popularized blogs because that’s how the band marketed Kid A.

Hareega, I very much doubt that a band as experimental/indie as Radiohead could be found on a basta. For one thing, their music is far too sophisticated to find its way to a basta.

Yazan and Firas, I still believe that “Ok Computer” has literally shifted the music taste in the 90s, when the band decided to gear away from the heavily commercialized Brit Pop scene at that time. Introducing Electronic elements to melodic rock was a huge step then. Lyrically, Radiohead came at a time where Grunge was still in power (mainly thanks to bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam), and Radiohead actually surprised its audience with lyrics that more topical than downright negative (even Creep was more portrayed as more topical than negative). Radiohead literally did for experimental music, what Nirvana did for Grunge, and what The Velvet Underground did for Art Rock, and what N.W.A. did for Hip Hop. So Yazan, to put cheezy bands that are high on C-chords such as Nickleback is purely an insult to Radiohead. Great bands that have literally changed the history of music, like Radiohead, Massive Attack, Underworld and The Chemical Brothers simply cannot be placed in the box with such cheap American garbage. (Sorry for getting too carried away guys, but it’s put for a noble cause, no?).

This is far more than a slap for the industry: It truly puts artists, bands, record labels, critics, music media and even iTunes itself in one league, and Radiohead in a totally different league. Audiences reward respect and humility with absolute loyalty; that, does not come with a price tag attached.

yazan and pheras, I think you guys misunderstood what I meant, in terms of music radiohead is very different from whatever it was I mentioned, fray, killers, nickelback, there’s no dispute there-and I also can’t stand nickelback-that’s not the similarity I was claiming.
I meant that more in terms of popularity and where they are on the pop culture map. Radiohead was really big during the days of ‘karma police’, everyone knew them so they were like the nickelback of their day in terms of popularity, now you really have to be an alternative music or indie fan to know their stuff.

It’s so cool to see people from other parts of the world talking about this as well! I’m a student from America, taking a class on the Middle East, and we’ve recently been talking about pop culture. We haven’t really talked about the popularity of Western music in the area, just about music from Middle Eastern people. I love seeing that the reaction to Radiohead’s new album releasing method is essentially the same all over. I think this marks a much needed potential turning point in the music industry. It’ll be interesting to see what other bands do in response to it.