Internet Marketing and Social Media Consultants

Merely ten days after the announcement their album was finished, British rock group Radiohead released their new album In Rainbows online through their own website. In choosing to eschew both record labels and major online music vendors such as iTunes, Radiohead essentially cut out all of the middlemen in self-realeasing their album.

Was it a success? Radiohead moved 1.2 million copies of In Rainbows in less than a week. However, it is doubtful the already wealthy band hardly got rich off their move: buyers were asked only to pay a small processing fee (around $1) and would basically name their own price, leaving the revenue from their album in the hands of the consumer’s conscience.

Radiohead’s previous three releases were leaked onto the internet months before they were released. This played a massive role in Radiohead’s thinking: why not accept the inevitability of a leak and perhaps make some money off of it? Radiohead will release the CD for In Rainbows in early 2008, presumably on a record label of some import. Will it sell? Or does it even matter in today’s music world where anyone can login to a torrent site and get any album for free weeks or even months before its release?

One thing is for sure: Radiohead have a loyal fan base that allows them to take such risks, risks that would almost certainly backfire for smaller bands. However, the fact they released this album through their self-created website could pose a potential threat to online music vendors if more artists decide they are better off self-releasing their content. More to come.