Radiohead - In Rainbows : What Are You Paying?

I'm freeloading. If I like the album, a friend and I are splitting the discbox. He gets the CDs, I get the vinyls, we split the goodies.

I can totally rationalize $40 for a deluxe vinyl + implied international shipping.

your friend is getting ripped off

Hoos, do you REALLY have a record player? Because you must be one of like every 300,000 people your age with a record player, and if so, I salute you. Please don't hold any drunken mathematics against me, thanks.

Not everyone has a record player in this day and age, and I bloody salute those who do.

As Elvis said "Thank you vaaray much"

I paid £0. I wasn't even going to want to listen to it, so I guess the hype worked to get me to hear it/participate in the buffoonery. So well done Radiohead.

I paid 1p + 45p.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7037194.stm

I'd have been interested to see how a "not going to bother at all" option would have done (though obviously there's a fair few not-botherers who wouldn't even click on the thread).

Anyway, my favourite Radiohead album is still Pablo Honey. Get back to your best, boys, and I might be persuaded to give you more than £0.00 next time.

I think that's where he lost any remaining credibility :)

They haven't announced how many people ordered the discbox or downloads. I wonder what the figures would be. How many did Hail To The Thief sell?

Hoos, do you REALLY have a record player? Because you must be one of like every 300,000 people your age with a record player, and if so, I salute you. Please don't hold any drunken mathematics against me, thanks.

-- Bimble, Wednesday, October 10, 2007 5:46 AM (17 hours ago) Bookmark Link

i think vinyl is kind of making a comeback, my friends in bands that tour a lot say they consistently sell more vinyl than CDs, and to people in their early 20s.

It's definitely become in vogue the past few years. Probably due to all the ltd edition collector stuff.

i just fixed my parents' old record player last weekend! i suppose i could start buying vinyl now since i don't carry CDs around anyway so portability is not an issue

lots of stuff on indie labels like sub pop, merge, and 4AD gives you a certificate for free 256K mp3s, nice deal

They haven't announced how many people ordered the discbox or downloads. I wonder what the figures would be.

The two main rumours are:

The average price paid for 'In Rainbows' has been around £4.72 and the band have made around £1.3m so far.

or

45,000 box sets
170,000 downloads @ £1.49

Which is around £2M (assuming they pay 49p themselves for the downloads).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2007/10/random_stat_34.shtml

Random stat
Posted Friday, 12 October 2007 at 10:08 UK time A survey of music fans who downloaded Radiohead's new album found that 29% paid either nothing or just 1p. More than half gave up to £10.

Do they mean us?

(sum, sum, sum, dif, dif, div...)

ach, no.

I paid exactly £5. There is no option for me.

http://idolator.com/tunes/rumors/radioheads-in-rainbows-profits-the-rich-get-richer-310140.php

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7073079.stm

Rock group Radiohead have signed a deal to give their digital album In Rainbows a "physical" release.

The agreement with UK label XL means the album - previously only available via digital download - will shortly be available in shops and other outlets.

The band made music history last month by allowing fans to pay what they liked to download their seventh studio album.

The deal with XL covers all territories outside North America. A release date for the CD has yet to be announced.

London-based XL, part of the Beggars Banquet group, previously released Radiohead singer Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser.

'Exaggerated'

Radiohead's novel way of releasing In Rainbows set a precedent, though it is unclear how successful the experiment has been financially.

No official figures have been released, though their manager has said reports of 1.2 million sales were "exaggerated".

Fans were invited to put their own price on the 10 MP3 files that made up the album, from nothing to £100.

Radiohead - whose previous albums include Kid A, The Bends and OK Computer - are just one of the acts exploring new ways to reach consumers.

Earlier this week Sir Cliff Richard announced he would cut the price of his latest album if enough fans ordered it ahead of its download release.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SOC7200&show_article=1

Most Fans Paid $0 for Radiohead Album
Nov 6 03:39 PM US/Eastern
By ALEX VEIGA
AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Radiohead let its fans decide how much to pay for a digital copy of the band's latest release, "In Rainbows," and more than half of those who downloaded the album chose to pay nothing, according to a study by a consumer research firm.

Some 62 percent of the people who downloaded "In Rainbows" in a four- week period last month opted not to pay the British alt-rockers a cent. But the remaining 38 percent voluntarily paid an average of $6, according to the study by comScore Inc.

Radiohead broke with its past practice of releasing its music in CD format and through a major record label when it released its seventh studio album online itself. The biggest wrinkle was the band's decision to let fans pay as much or as little as they wanted to download a copy.

The results of the study were drawn from data gathered from a few hundred people who are part of comScore's database of 2 million computer users worldwide. The firm, which has permission to monitor the computer users' online behavior, did not provide a margin of error for the study's results.

Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 29, about 1.2 million people visited the Web site the band set up for fans to download the album, comScore said Monday. The research firm did not say how many people in its study actually bought the album.

Among U.S. residents, about 40 percent who downloaded the album paid to do so. Their average payment was $8.05, the firm said.

Some 36 percent of the fans outside the U.S. who downloaded the album opted to pay; on average, those fans paid $4.64, according to the study.

Radiohead's U.S.-based publicist said Tuesday the band had no comment on the study.

The online release sent shock waves through the recording industry, with some hailing it as a shrewd move at a time of declining CD sales industrywide and others writing it off as a publicity stunt that amounted to the band giving away its music.

The band, which also offered fans the option of buying a lavish box set for about $82, plans to release the album in CD format some time next year.

A lot of people paid $0, but I know a lot of us are going to go out and get the record the day it hits the stores.

Prediction: unless some other huge album comes out in the same week, In Rainbows will go to #1 on the album charts.

I like how that article frames it as a pretty significant failure.

A lot of people paid $0, but I know a lot of us are going to go out and get the record the day it hits the stores.

you're right. from what i gather, most people who paid nothing did so because they're just going to buy the physical release anyway when it comes out (myself included)

Me included too. Of course I had to hear this thing once it was available, but I will of course purchase the actual CD. Hopefully more than 160 kbs too.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7082627.stm

If that article is right, and my calculations are right (and they may well not be), then Radiohead made £1,322,400 out of the downloads.

"Radiohead have been bankrolled by their former label for the last 15 years," said Michael Laskow, chief executive of Taxi, a company that helps bands get signed to record labels.

Like the label got nothing out of the deal.

Ah, as in "Taxi for These Animal Men" ?

Taxi, a company that helps bands get signed to record labels

You have get signed up by a company to help you get signed up by a label these days?

yeah, check out Glitterbest and NEMS for other bands who have benefited from this approach.

Nearly half of all U.K. downloaders pay for new Radiohead album

To sum up: Britishers were more likely to pay than Americans, but the Americans who did pay paid more.

“I am surprised by the number of freeloaders,” said Fred Wilson, managing partner of Union Square Ventures and well-known music aficionado. “The stories to date about the In Rainbows ‘pick your price’ download offer have been much more optimistic. I paid $5 (£2.45) and had no reluctance whatsoever to take out my card and pay. It’s a fantastic record, the best thing they've done in years. But, this shows pretty conclusively that the majority of music consumers feel that digital recorded music should be free and is not worth paying for. That's a large group that can't be ignored and its time to come up with new business models to serve the freeloader market.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7103071.stm

Yorke paid nothing for own album

No-one was given copies of the album for fear of it being leaked
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has admitted he was among the thousands of people who paid nothing to download the band's latest album.
Last month the group released In Rainbows online and invited fans to set their own price.

Speaking to BBC 6 Music's Steve Lamacq, Yorke said: "There wasn't any point. I just move some money from one pocket to the other."

According to one survey, three in five people paid nothing at all for it.

The project, which in October one of the band's managers Bryce Edge admitted was a "risk", was shrouded in secrecy.

"We had to literally tell no-one. I didn't tell my wife we were going to release it like this," said guitarist Ed O'Brien.

Yorke added that no-one was allowed to have copies of the master recording in case it was leaked beforehand.

"Every record that we've done for ages has been leaked. And why not leak the bloody thing yourself?" he said.

Every record that we've done for ages has been leaked. And why not leak the bloody thing yourself?

Internet monitoring company Comscore found the average price paid for the album was $6 (£2.90).

American fans were the most generous, paying on average $8.05 (£3.85), compared with the $4.64 (£2.22) paid by those outside the US.

Of those who were willing to pay, the largest percentage (17%) paid less than $4 (£1.90).

However 12% were willing to pay between $8-$12, (£3.80 - £5.71).

During the first 29 days of October, 1.2 million people worldwide visited the In Rainbows site, but it is not clear how many downloads were made.

Radiohead recently announced the CD and vinyl versions of the album will be released in shops on 31 December.

Yorke said: "There wasn't any point. I just move some money from one pocket to the other."

"like Tommy Cooper. Just like that!"