So after all the hype and coverage of Radiohead and their decision to market their new album online for whatever price fans wanted to pay, what are the facts that are emerging and the results?
ComScore released a preliminary study which shows the results through October 29.
So far, 38 percent of downloaders paid something for the album, while 62 percent paid nothing for the "In Rainbows" album.
For those that paid something, 17 percent paid $4 or less, another 6 percent paid between $4.01 and $8, while 12 percent paid from $8.01 to $12. Finally, 4 percent were willing to pay over $12 for the album; obviously appreciative fans.
The 80/20 rule asserted itself again, as those paying over $8 for the album ended up generating 79 percent of the revenue from the iniative.
The numbers provided only account for sales directly from the "In Rainbows" site and nowhere else.
People have used numbers from both sides of the results to make their points, as some said it was a great success, while others used the numbers to show it wasn't successful at all.
What's hard to measure is the good will created by offering the album this way by Radiohead, and how many people will or have bought the deluxe package offered by the band, which is in physical form.
The band has also made a deal outside the U.S. to sell the album on CD.
To me this could be a legitimate model for bands and music artists. The idea has never been, in my estimation, to simply digitize alone, but offer up the music like Radiohead has, and then offer deluxe, classic - or whatever you may want to call it - offerings on a physical platform of some type that has added value included. It's work great like that for a number of people and businesses, and seems to be the way to go forward.
Has Radiohead succeeded with this? I think so. The question for bands and artists not as well known is whether it will work for them. I would throw out similar tries in your niche. The question won't be answered until it's tried by a significant enough number of bands to see if its a long-lasting trend.
For larger bands and better-known artists, I think this is a no-brainer and a win for sure.
» Radiohead Releasing "In Rainbows" Physical Album December 31 from TheAlphaMarketer
Radiohead who has received a ton of coverage for their offering of their latest album for whatever fans wanted to pay for it on their web site, have announced they're releasing the physical version of the "In Rainbows" album on... [Read More]
Tracked on: November 8, 2007 3:32 PM | Permalink to Trackback