On the record

Jim Carrollon music

Wednesday is Radiohead's web giveaway day

Radiohead's decision to sell - or give away - their music directly to their fans via the web is the "music news story of the year", according to one of many enthusiastic postings on The Ticket's On The Record blog this week.

Much of the web and media coverage this week has focused on Radiohead's unusual plan to let the public decide how much to pay - and they can choose to pay nothing but a tiny administration charge - when they download the band's new album, In Rainbows, from Wednesday next. This is a first for a band of their stature.

Hardcore fans can also buy the album in physical form. Many have already put in orders for the £40 (€57) deluxe "discbox" of In Rainbows - containing two CDs, two 12-inch vinyl records, artwork and lyric booklets - to be shipped in time for Christmas.

However, amid all the hype about the band's decision to bypass the conventional record label fandango, it could be overlooked that there will also be a conventional CD release in 2008.

Radiohead's former label EMI claims to be in talks with the band, and other labels doubtless are keen to work with them too. So you can expect the conventional CD release to involve a label tie-in of one kind or another.

This is to be expected when you consider the huge costs and administrative headaches involved in overseeing the distribution of an album to a worldwide market. Radiohead will probably rely on the expertise of an established major indie or chain of distribution companies, which will naturally take a cut.

Other heritage acts are certain to follow Radiohead's high- profile move, and some will be hoping for a similar PR bump.

Pity The Charlatans then, who picked a bad week to announce plans to give away their forthcoming album as a free download - only to see their news overshadowed by Thom and friends' announcement.

But the Radiohead move is unlikely to be a useful business model for new bands or acts who have not yet developed large followings.

Because of past revenue and future live earnings and income, not to mention the brand they've created with the help of six albums on EMI, Radiohead can afford to go it alone. They can also afford to let their fans decide how much the new album is worth. It will be interesting to see if other acts do likewise.

On the blog today: how much would you pay for a new album by your favourite act?

Making music your business

The Music Ireland expo in Dublin's RDS, which runs from today until Sunday, features a music equipment trade show, 10 live acts and workshops with such well-travelled pros as Doug Wimbish, the bassist who features on a number of seminal old-school hip-hop cuts and who has also played with the Rolling Stones, Living Colour and Tackhead.

The real attraction for many, though, will be some promising round-table discussions on various music-business issues. Besides 2FM boss John Clarke arguing the toss about playlists and radio airtime for Irish artists, there will be discussions and debates on music management, songwriting, production and a public interview with Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis (see also Revolver, p36).

Participants include producer Stephen Street, superstar manager Louis Walsh, Brian Kennedy, Dolores O'Riordan (ex-Cranberries in case you'd forgotten), 2FM's Mark McCabe and Today FM's Tom Hardy.

More information at www.musicireland.ie

Macro revival for Microdisney

It's time for a Microdisney revival, and the release this week of the career-spanning Daunt Square to Elsewhere: Anthology 1982-1988 may be the catalyst for one.

Cathal Coughlan and Sean O'Hagan's band lit up 1980s Ireland for many with such releases as The Clock Comes Down The Stairs, Crooked Mile and We Hate You South African Bastards.

Ater Microdisney, Coughlan went onto more soaring heights with Fatima Mansions, while O'Hagan rustled together the High Llamas.

The press release reference to "one of the UK's best post-punk bands" will come as news to Cork's citizens, who still consider the act one of Leeside's finest.

The world can't get enough of Bob Dylan.

Tomorrow night at 8pm, BBC Radio 2 will broadcast Dream Dylan Live, an hour of Dylan's greatest hits culled from four decades of live shows.

Ignorning some of the ropier Dylan live shows of recent years (and boy, there have been some stinkers), this broadcast even includes four previously unheard out-takes from Dylan's own archives.

Meanwhile, we're digging Dylan's own idiosyncratic wireless adventures, Theme Time Radio, on BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music. High time for some Irish radio station to get Bob on the job.