Did anyone catch this article about Radiohead’s groundbreaking marketing tactic of offering downloads of their new album online for ‘whatever you think it’s worth’?

I first heard about it a while back and thought it a significant example of major changes in the relationships between producers and consumers. The article spells it out well as it relates to the music business, but I can’t help but see the bigger metaphor for how the Internet and commercial use social media is radically altering our models for commercial exchange.

It used to be that you had a good idea and the first order of business was convince the folks who controlled the distribution in your industry that it was also a good idea. You might retain creative rights over the product, but the mechanics of getting it into the hands of consumers was complex, expensive and controlled by an elite few.

Radiohead astutely observed that 1.) the distribution mechanics of their industry was changing rapidly, and 2.) they were a strong enough band (brand) to take a chance on abandoning the old, slow and expensive model and going direct to the consumer.

What I really liked about this story is the description of what their creative process is like when they work through the old model of distribution with a major label. Their creative output was slow to get to market (albums take much longer to release), the promotional campaign (a tour) for selling the new product (album) was long and boring and kept them from what they really enjoyed the most—product innovation (writing and recording new music).

Getting closer to their fans (customers) allowed them to see what works immediately. A great example of early recording tapes tossed up on YouTube is given in the story. Rather than screaming about copyrights and trying to retain a death grip on brand perception, the band fully embraces the phenomenon of their art (product) being co-opted by the Internet Commons and rightly views it as a highly efficient, low cost feedback loop.

We often talk at Scout Labs about how getting closer to the consumer speeds up innovation. Hats off to Radiohead for progressive marketing innovation that ended up accelerating their product innovation as well in ways they never expected.