Apparently Radiohead's marketing strategy of giving their latest CD, 'In Rainbows' away first in MP3 format, with fans having the option to pay if they wanted to, didn't have quite the effect on sales that many have predicted. The album was number 1 on the U.S POP charts during its first week of release.
In November internet commerce analysts at ComScore announced that according to a ... [ read the full article ]
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Their music wasn't exactly my cup of earl gray (pun intended), but I commend them for taking a chance. To bad they no longer have their cd availible for download.
First, I'm a huge fan of the band. I pre-ordered the $80 disc box from the site and was given a free download while I waited. I then purchased the retail disc in stores when it was released. They simply make great timeless music, certainly not for everyone but perfect for those looking for a little more with their music. This album is one of the best they've done and already ranks as one of my personal top albums of all time.
That said, I don't think this really proves what this site wants it to prove. The album was number 1 on a slow week. It sold just over 100,000 copies (25% were iTunes downloads)... the last album which received less favorable reviews and not nearly as much press sold roughly three times that amount without iTunes. While I'm sure the band made more money on the "pay what you want" downloads than they ordinarily did under their old contracts at EMI, this didn't exactly prove that giving something away for what could be potentially free helps your sales. It actually seems that this release cost them over half of their physical sales.
And I should add, for 21Q, though you aren't a fan if you were looking for downloads they are now on the iTunes store as higher quality mp3s. Now you just can't get it for free.
They probably could have gotten more sales with a better distribution strategy. Let the fans listen to the music first, then decide how much they want to pay. I'd hate to have paid a lot for something that might suck.
Originally posted by jab1981: That said, I don't think this really proves what this site wants it to prove. The album was number 1 on a slow week. It sold just over 100,000 copies (25% were iTunes downloads)... the last album which received less favorable reviews and not nearly as much press sold roughly three times that amount without iTunes. While I'm sure the band made more money on the "pay what you want" downloads than they ordinarily did under their old contracts at EMI, this didn't exactly prove that giving something away for what could be potentially free helps your sales. It actually seems that this release cost them over half of their physical sales.
If they actually made more money by releasing less physical media, then they made a great point. Fans got what they wanted and paid what they thought was good. I'm a huge Radiohead fan, but this album was definitely one of my least favorite of theirs. OK Computer and Hail to the Thief reign supreme in my CD collection. But I gave them a few $$$ for the download for the few songs that I did like.
They probably make more money through the record label but i think this was more to see what the percentage of their fan base would be. It could also just be a freebie to see how many people they could get and then the album after this one they would charge for and then see what numbers come once again.
