Radiohead ‘In Rainbows’ a Success or Failure?

I guess that really depends on who you ask

On October 10, Radiohead caused a stir in the music industry by digitally releasing their album ‘In Rainbows’ and allowing fans to name their own price. It seemed immediately those desperately holding on to the old retail model began to attack the band. But after a little research I discovered that the industry has a slightly messed up definition of the word ‘failure’.


I guess that really depends on who you ask

On October 10, Radiohead caused a stir in the music industry by digitally releasing their album ‘In Rainbows’ and allowing fans to name their own price. It seemed immediately record execs and others trying to desperately hold on to the old retail business model began to attack the band.

Recently a few articles have popped up gloating that this download scheme was a failure. So I decided to do a little research and discovered that the industry has a slightly messed up definition of ‘failure’. I expected there to be a tale of once great and wealthy musicians forced into the poorhouse by some bad career move. Instead, I found something quite different.

According to a study by comScore, a firm that measures online activity, over the last month about 1.2 million people downloaded the album. While about 62% of those paid nothing, 38% paid what averaged to $6.00 per download. Factoring in various production costs, the band likely grossed about $2.62 (about 43.5%) per sale. After consulting with my calculator, I see that it comes to just under $1.2 million in one month! Um … failure?

With the CD coming out in January and continued downloads, some experts predict the band could take in up to $4.7 million. But all that aside, think of the coverage they’ve received in the past month. Sure a Radiohead release would garner plenty of buzz in music media, but this scheme placed them in top stories on traditional and financial media as well. Publicity like that is priceless.

Then there is the new ‘no-middle-man’ business model which allows the band to better control their money. After all, even a band as large as Radiohead would not be getting paid 43.5% per unit under the old method. I think the only people who really look at this as a failure are the labels who cannot profit from it. And even though the band is not really talking about it, I doubt they would call it a failure.

See Also:
Radiohead ‘In Rainbows’
Radiohead


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