Are you a fan of Radiohead? Then you know the band from Oxford, England, can create artistic buzz. But has it found a better way to sell music? Yes. Only the bandmates and their managers know if their audacious October pick-your-own-price release of the album “In Rainbows” has done better financially to date than it would have through record label middlemen and distribution retailers such as Best Buy and online digital stores. One thing’s for sure: There are two more days to download the album for little to nothing from Radiohead’s website before the CDs and vinyl record appear in stores Jan. 1. Site traffic is climbing but nowhere near its peak this year.
Since the band let fans decide their own price for an album download, no one has been able to confirm net profits from the experimental sales. Or should we say self-funded marketing campaign? ComScore, an online metrics company, last month pegged the average sale price of album downloads at $6 for the 40% of people who decided to pay anything at all. Radiohead issued a statement dismissing the figures. The band also played coy on the numbers in a New York Times lengthy feature today by Jon Pareles.
The timing of the article — and publication choice by the band’s publicists — meshes beautifully with the next phase of album release and promotion to buyers who won’t mind paying suggested retail. That the band is also distributing CDs and vinyls through two record labels in the U.S. and rest of world shows that Radiohead has not killed the traditional record selling model. It has made it more interesting and nuanced. Audacity (pick your price), viral (tell friends), social networks (Radiohead has a profile on Facebook), record companies (make CD jewel cases), retailers (put CDs on shelves), Internet radio (play songs), and traditional media like the NYT (spread news to broader audience) are all connected in the music delivery business. Radiohead has not turned the recording industry on its head, just poked it in the eye.
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