Will Radiohead’s free album impact Christian music?

Radiohead have hit a lot of headlines over the last couple of weeks by allowing you to download their latest album for whatever price you want. Yes, you can even if get it for absolutely nothing! I must confess, in the spirit of testing this out I did download it for no cost at all. I did feel slightly tight but hey, I’ve bought 5 of the previous albums and seen them live so I’ve already contributed to their wealth more than most!

…providing free worship music in this manner may be the next step for some Christian artists.

Many wonder how they can possibly afford to do this – is it simply because the album is that bad!?! I’ve only listened to it once, and whilst it may not be their best it is certainly no turkey. The main reason is that they probably only get about £3 (if that) from the sale of every full price CD once all of the distributors and so on have taken their share. They are obviously hoping that the average person will contribute at least that so they won’t loose out, and of course they get all of the free publicity on top.

It will be interesting to see if any Christian bands follow this approach. Certainly you would hope they may be able to get a higher average ‘donation’ than a secular band. It would also be fantastic to spread great worship songs to those that can’t afford full priced CDs.

I love the spirit of giving away Christian things for free to benefit the church (the body of Christ). Inevitably this will rely on donations to support any such free ministry, but providing free worship music in this manner may be the next step for some Christian artists.