Radiohead’s Album, Released Online for Free, Still Tops Charts Around the World
Although Radiohead offered their latest album In Rainbows in a name-your-own-price deal in October, their regular record-label CD relaease still managed to top the US charts this last week.
Though they moved only 122,000 copies of the record, it was still enough to take the number one spot. The album was also number one in Britain, France, Japan, Canada, and Ireland.
Their last album, Hail to the Thief, moved about 300,000 copies its first week, so there was a definite dropoff in the sales numbers. But an estimated 1.2 million downloaded In Rainbows the first day it was offered on the name-your-own-price plan, and Radiohead did make some money off of that. They also used it to gain publicity, move their $80 boxed set, and generate buzz that will certainly lead to greater concert and memorabilia revenues.
In Rainbows’ sales likely would have been lower than Hail to the Thief’s anyway, since album sales continue to decline (they descended 15% last year). In today’s music world, it was still enough to top the charts.
It’s possible that the best thing Radiohead did was release the online version of the album at only 160 bps. This way, hardcore fans still felt it necessary to purchase the CD so they could get the highest possible quality. If Radiohead had put out a 320 bps or FLAC option, many may have eschewed the CD in favor of the free download.
Technorati Tags: radiohead, in rainbows, pay-what-you-will marketing
