Radiohead - In Rainbows : What Are You Paying?

He said: "Although the idea is that you can decide what you want to pay, most people are deciding on a normal retail price with very few trying to buy it for a penny."

o rly

So the people who filled in 0.00 actually get the rarest version! :-(

OOP UNUSED RADIOHEAD DOWNLOAD USER ID + PASSWORD L@@K NOW RARE

Will download off P2P from someone who bothered going to the site

haha!

what a badass!

http://www.snowdesign.com/img/pf_nofear1.gif

http://stickers.signprint.co.uk/images/medium/stickers/0467_MED.jpg

http://sneakmove.com/images/calvin.jpg

i doubt that they wont release a 'normal' retail version a little later...

I hope they publish the stats later of how many discboxes were sold and how many people took a free download and how many paid.

http://sneakmove.com/images/calvin.jpg

-- M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, October 2, 2007 3:15 PM (22 minutes ago)

thom yorke's face

i thought about it but i was like that's too much work

Bob Mould polls his blog readers about this:

http://modulate.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html

I saw bobs post and voted for a $20 annual fee because 1 album and a few singles is all bob could make in a year. I think that's fair. But he would have to do that, and then the quality may drop(and I haven't liked a whole album by bob since The Dog & Pony show.) Drop the auto-tune please bob!
Infact I'll pay him $40 now if he promises never to use it again!

For bands like Boris who make 6 + albums a year then $40 may be justified!!

I will probably pay whatever the CD will cost in Norway (probably 149 kroner, which is the usual news discount at Platekompaniet). So I picked the first option. I own every single CD by then, and I will own this one too even though my expectations aren't quite what they used to be after "OK Computer" and before "Kid A".

I don't really like Radiohead all that much, but I like this idea, so I think I will give them two of my American dollars that they can spend on whatever they want.

Maybe I'll see if they wanna do a trade.

bob mould sez: "The skeptic in me says the next big band to try something like this will be silently, and invisibly, financed and marketed by a major label."

otm, bob. majors are already fucking around with you tube and pretending like they ain't; what's to stop them from pulling a stunt like this?

A sandi thom type stunt.

major labels are worse than big oil or hitler that's for sure, if anyone would come up with a sweet scheme to give away records for free it'd be them. i think most of them are owned by jews they are kind of shifty like that.

Is that an Xasthur quote? ;)

OPEN YOUR EYES SHEEPLE!

DOWNLOAD CULTURE IS NOT FOR $$$$ALE!!!!!

Thanks Radiohead. Now the 99c suckers will cotton onto the fact that no one's paid for downloads for a decade.

Ten dollars (USD). I felt funny giving that much, since it's more than I pay for downloads on eMusic, but I thought that what Radiohead is doing is such a innovative and savvy move -- and showed such respect toward the public and its fans -- that the "donation" was appropriate to support the band's efforts.

The move is sort of analogous to an episode in Freakonomics, where a vendor puts a plate of bagels in an office with a sign indicating the price and a cup to put the money in, then leaves and picks up the plate and the cup at the end of the day. The vendor is trusting the office workers to pay the listed price. Generally, people appeared to pay the vendor's price. What Radiohead is doing is different, but they're both interesting experiments in "moral choices."

Ten dollars (USD).

Same here. System was terribly buggy and hung up when I tried yesterday at this time but the kinks seemed to be ironed out today. Took a few refreshes to get the security code to pop up, though!

0.0

As a bit of a parallel theres a restaurant here in Melbourne called Lentil as Anything, where when you have your meal, you pay whetever you think it is worth. They were scoffed at and told the business model would never work but it has done so succesfully for some years now.

You'd be suprised how many people are generous about this kind of thing.

0.0

The public has spoken.

I'm confused about this notion of this approach Radiohead being generous toward their fans.

I don't listen to MP3's. They don't sound as good. So unless it's something rare, not on CD basically - e.g., a couple Brotzmann/Van Hove/Bennink records from the 70s I downloaded from some server years ago - I don't want it. I'm completely out of the MP3 loop, and I like that.

If I could get a regular CD, I'd have it for 15 dollars, unless I was dumb enough to go to Borders or whatever chain stores actually still sell CD's and spend 18 or 19 dollars. Then you make CD-R's, and give them to your friends.

After all, there is technology now to make CDs that can't be copied. The Kevin Ayers reissues, for example: I tried on a stand-alone CD burner even, no go. If big-name acts don't want people copying their CDs, seems like that's the way to go. I realize of course that a lot of people buy both CD's and MP3's, so for them this is "generous" - but to me it's annoying. 80 dollars for the real thing? Maybe for Sun City Girls, or Stockhausen. Hell, I just spent 100 on a Neil Young ticket. But for a Radiohead CD? Huh?

Ooops, forgive the mangled first sentence.

0.0

As a bit of a parallel theres a restaurant here in Melbourne called Lentil as Anything, where when you have your meal, you pay whetever you think it is worth. They were scoffed at and told the business model would never work but it has done so succesfully for some years now.

Haha, I've been there! Andrew wot ran the ILX server for years and I had a good meal there when I visited. Then we met up with Electric Sound of Jim for a drink.

Discbox

I paid 3 pounds ($7 USD with the processing fee) for the download, before I learned there was also going to be a regular CD release. I'm not too bent out of shape about it since the money's going straight to the band for once instead of through a label, and I got a small raise last week, so eh. Definitely buying a regular CD; would buy a "discbox" if the dollar hadn't been driven off a fucking cliff over the course of the last seven years.

I'll almost certainly buy the regular CD when it shows up. I may or may not download the mp3s in the meantime; if I do I won't pay for them and I won't keep them after a listen or two.

Given that artists usually only receive about £1.22 of a CD sold in the UK, isn't that a good price to pay? As all this is going directly to Radiohead Inc, methinks they might make MORE money from this than going through a record company, no?

they're both interesting experiments in "moral choices."

but it's a fairly broken experiment, no? if it turns out that 75% of the people downloading end up paying $10 or whatever then sure, it's a testament to people's generosity etc etc, but if it turns out 99% of the downloaders pay ten cents, it's too easy to chalk it up to 'trying it out before i buy the real thing' or 'didn't want to wait until december for my discbox' or any number of other valid excuses. not that it won't be interesting to see how it all turns out, but it's a little one sided?

Since this seems to be thread where people are talking about the economics, certainly on the basis of the linked Bob Mould board...

Am I the only person on here in the Neubauten Supporter Project? As far as I can work out, Supporters entirely finance the first print run during subscription leaving all non-supporter sales at profit.

The first attempt was a bit of a failure, and needed Mute to put out Perpetuum Mobile as well. The second attempt, and the release of Grundstueck went a bit better with a proper self-release for both the CD and the DVD (although in different packaging to the supporter versions). This time seems to be going well, with the public release of the album in a couple of weeks (although with less tracks than the supporter album).

In total this time, for my 65Euro I've had (or am getting) the album Alles Wieder Offen in an extended Supporter-only version, a DVD containing at least one live show and decent quality highlights of the webcasted material throughout the project, another free digital album (Jewels) which was available in mp3 or WAV and almost monthly clusters of webcasts (varying from rehearsals to interviews to full live shows).

I think it's been good value, to be honest.

Historic: I bought KidA, the first Radiohead album I bought.

I got "Amn" off d/l, but bought it later.

I got the live one and "hail" off d/l, wasn't fussed about either tbh. would not have bought either.

(Is there an album I missed out there?)

(d/l = free ones natch)

no option for the people who won't get the album, even it is free.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1193/1475809377_95b82a8df1.jpg?v=0

If you can download this album as WAV, FLAC and high bitrate then great. I may do that and then pay them something if I end up liking it. Not interested in physical copy and I don't really like the artwork they've got for this album - seems really flat and uninspired. They should also consider offering (if not 'selling') distinct parts of the recordings separately - this band has always been more remixable than is thought.

not that it won't be interesting to see how it all turns out, but it's a little one sided?

Yes, you're right. Still very interesting to see how this unfolds.

It also won't be a very true representation of how the album is distributed, given that 90% of those who eventually get it for free will do so from bit torrent, rapidshare, etc, - not the Radiohead site.

if they can get it for free from the Radiohead site why not get it from there tho? will be people bothered enough to download it who never go to their site tho i suppose.

Really, if you're going to pay them zero, wouldn't it be a better idea to grab it elsewhere to minimize Radiohead's bandwidth bills? Otherwise you're still costing them a minuscule amount for your free download.

there is a service charge (45p?) added to every order to cover bandwidth / infrastructure costs.

even the free ones?

I think the service charge is there if you put anything other than absolutely nothing.

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!"