Radiohead - In Rainbows

[Agamemnon]

I didn't really find it that great the first listen-through, but a few songs are definitely growing on me. Not sure if there's a Karma Police in there (for me at least), but I really like the soft/ambient type nature of the album.

[Flaming Choy]

i heard that all the money goes to the band, bypassing the label or something like that, don't know if it's true , but if it is, it's a brilliant move.

[troutman]

http://woxy.lala.com/boards/showthre...3&page=2&pp=20

According to a study examining how consumers reacted to Radiohead's "set-your-own-price" gamble with the digital release of the new album "In Rainbows," 38% paid an average of $6. The rest paid nothing.

Of those who did pay, 17% paid less than $4, 6% paid between $4 - $8, 12% paid between $8 - $12 and 4% paid more.

"This shows pretty conclusively that the majority of music consumers fell that digital recorded music should be free and is not worth paying for," said Fred Wilson, managing partner of Union Square Ventures. "It's time to come up with new business models for the freeloader market."

I paid nothing, but will buy the CD.

[Bobblehead]

How many of people who downloaded it for free wouldn't have bought the album anyways? How many extra people will this entice to buy the physical CD when it is released, or will people who would have bought the album be satisfied with the download? Will this create new fans for future releases? How much would the band have received for an equivalent release through traditional means?

I think there are many questions to be answered before this can be declared a failure.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by troutman

I paid nothing, but will buy the CD.

Same.

I've bought every one of their albums and would have done so already if it was available.

I just wanted to hear it as soon as I could. No problem buying the CD as well.

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by troutman

"This shows pretty conclusively that the majority of music consumers fell that digital recorded music should be free and is not worth paying for," said Fred Wilson, managing partner of Union Square Ventures. "It's time to come up with new business models for the freeloader market."

This attitude absolutely disgusts me. There's so many more variables to this. A lot of people bought their boxed set, and DL'ed the music so they can listen to it as well. As mentioned there's another whole array of situations, like getting people that never would've bought it anyway a free sample - and then enticing them to buy the CD after it comes out.

Yet, they're able to "conclusively" show that everyone wants to pirate music.

[Got Miikka?]

...and Radiohead's little experiment backfires.

[Gravitykillr]

Originally Posted by Got Miikka?

...and Radiohead's little experiment backfires.

so 38% of 1.2 million copies so 456,000 people paid an average of $6 per copy that 2.736 million dollars straight into Radioheads pocket (if my math is right) explain how that is an experiment backfired?
If anything I'd say Radiohead's experiment just went very well because they just put all that money back into their own pockets and not a penny of it is going to a record company. Sounds smart to me.
Edit: also like to add they have signed a record deal in the UK to distribute the physical record throughout the world except North America, with a N/A deal coming along soon.

[ricosuave]

^ and the way i see it is that it WAS an experiment, and one that went well. next time around, they'll just put a minimum of $1.99 or something to stop the freebies from getting out.

[Got Miikka?]

Originally Posted by Gravitykillr

so 38% of 1.2 million copies so 456,000 people paid an average of $6 per copy that 2.736 million dollars straight into Radioheads pocket (if my math is right) explain how that is an experiment backfired?
If anything I'd say Radiohead's experiment just went very well because they just put all that money back into their own pockets and not a penny of it is going to a record company. Sounds smart to me.
Edit: also like to add they have signed a record deal in the UK to distribute the physical record throughout the world except North America, with a N/A deal coming along soon.

I had a feeling I'd need to clarify. Radiohead has made it clear for years now that they are dissatisfied with the current record-releasing system - labels and album formats themselves specifically.

I love the concept they came up with for this latest record and good for them that they get to keep all the proceeds; no more deserving band on the planet I say. By "backfire" I meant that it is unfortunate certain record execs/industry types try to misconstrue the fact that some people didn't pay for it up front as some kind of freeloading.

I didn't drop a cent on the download because I have every intention of buying the hard-copy when it becomes available. I am by no means a freeloader in this case, but it is easy to see how that could be assumed.

It's just sad: what Radiohead has done is really quite revolutionary, but you can interpret statistics however you want and it appears certain people are reading it the wrong way. Which is too bad.

[Gravitykillr]

Originally Posted by Got Miikka?

I had a feeling I'd need to clarify. Radiohead has made it clear for years now that they are dissatisfied with the current record-releasing system - labels and album formats themselves specifically.

I love the concept they came up with for this latest record and good for them that they get to keep all the proceeds; no more deserving band on the planet I say. By "backfire" I meant that it is unfortunate certain record execs/industry types try to misconstrue the fact that some people didn't pay for it up front as some kind of freeloading.

I didn't drop a cent on the download because I have every intention of buying the hard-copy when it becomes available. I am by no means a freeloader in this case, but it is easy to see how that could be assumed.

It's just sad: what Radiohead has done is really quite revolutionary, but you can interpret statistics however you want and it appears certain people are reading it the wrong way. Which is too bad.

Cool, I thought you meant that they failed, but yeah your right the record industry just misconstrued it and made it look like it didn't go as well. Unfortunately it's a little bit to be expected as I'm sure they are scared that alot of the bigger selling bands are going to start doing this. Could you imagine a band/singer that normally sells around 15 million records or whatever a super high amount is (I checked good highest selling ever is the Eagles Greatest Hits at 28million.) and said Artist just gives the album away for nothing wow the industry would be in serious trouble if that started happening.

[Grunt]

Originally Posted by Got Miikka?

...and Radiohead's little experiment backfires.

Did it? They made over $2.7 million with this little experiment.

I originally downloaded the music for free, decided I loved the album, and then proceeded to go to the site again and tossed them $5. Does the study take into account those people who did the same as I did, or does it count it as 2 downloads, one paying $5 and the other $0? Because if that's the case then the study is pretty flawed.

[Ro]

"This shows pretty conclusively that the majority of music consumers fell that digital recorded music should be free and is not worth paying for," said Fred Wilson, managing partner of Union Square Ventures. "It's time to come up with new business models for the freeloader market."

Translation:

"I am shaking in my boots, along with all my other record industry cronies. Everyone knows that a band on a major label only earns about $1 from every CD they sell, and the rest of the profit goes to us! What the hell are we going to do if every band starts doing this? Even with 700 000+ "freeloaders," Radiohead is still going to make millions from this record, and the hard copy hasn't even been released yet! Meanwhile, we've made nothing off them! We are f*^#@d!"

[Knut]

Its really good... i am falling in love with this album...

[North East Goon]

Stupid question. I have it downloaded on my computer, now how do I get into my MP3? Sorry folks, not too computer savvy!

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by North East Goon

Stupid question. I have it downloaded on my computer, now how do I get into my MP3? Sorry folks, not too computer savvy!

Do you have a program to upload the music on to your MP3 player? If it's an Ipod you just use Itunes and add the downloaded songs to your Itunes library... I've never used any other type of software, but I assume they're similar...

[ricosuave]

all the mp3 files are in a zip file, so you have to extract them to, say, a folder on your desktop, then transfer them into your mp3 player however you would normally do it.

[gottabekd]

As many expected, these numbers that have been going around are just speculation, and no official numbers have (or likely will) be released to the public.

http://www.nme.com/news/radiohead/32393

"In response to purely speculative figures announced in the press regarding the number of downloads and the price paid for the album, the group's representatives would like to remind people that, as the album could only be downloaded from the band's website, it is impossible for outside organisations to have accurate figures on sales," they explained.

The statement added: "However, they can confirm that the figures quoted by the company comScore Inc are wholly inaccurate and in no way reflect definitive market intelligence or, indeed, the true success of the project."

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Got Miikka?

...and Radiohead's little experiment backfires.

Errr.... what?

They've made a pile of money which none of it goes to a record label or distro co and they haven't even released it on any physical media yet.

They've gained new fans like me who support this kind of thing and their old fans respect them so much more.

There is a buzz about this album because of how they are releasing it. Any criticism is coming from the major labels and their representatives because they are scared and so old fashioned and they refuse tocomprehend the market as it exists today.

Trent Reznor paid $5,000 for this album btw.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Trent Reznor paid $5,000 for this album btw.

Where did you hear that? The most you could put on the website was £99.99.