Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley Jump on Bandwagon, Music Taking A Desirable Direction

For the past few weeks we've pondered not once, but twice the significance of digital distribution as a primary form of an album's release, as well as the rapid nature in which their releases occur. While both Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead have surprised us with abrupt releases of their albums, it seems The Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkley have taken note of this, each making their albums available either now or by next week, without notice.

Aside from digital distribution, the truly great thing about all of these album's releases is the amount of time from announcement to availability. I recall sometimes waiting months for new releases, one of which was, ironically, Nine Inch Nails' With Teeth. Now major titles are being released in such a way that mimics independent musicians (read: Indie music). Let's forget that this has been done before (the argument is technical and isn't relevant to what I am proposing), and let's remind ourselves that bands of this stature would have never done this, even five years ago. Big releases were in a sort of stranglehold by the major record labels, as they tried to get as much hype around an album as possible before its release (which, in many cases, deflated the work).

I support this trend very much, as it only allows the hype machine to gain little traction, and for the simple fact that I am impatient as my seven year old brother. With bands of this stature doing this, it only makes sense that others will follow suit, hopefully spawning what will be the next musical revolution.

Cheers to The Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkley for following suit of a wonderful trend. Also, cheers to Radiohead. I find it hardly coincidental that this is going on, in light of what they did a few months back.