Whatever way you slice it, Radiohead's In Rainbows album, released just over a year ago, was a stunning success.
New numbers revealed by the band's publisher at a conference in Iceland on Wednesday show that even after giving away In Rainbows as a pricing-optional download starting on October 10, 2007, the band still sold more CDs of the album than it did of either of its previous two albums.
Music fans bought 1.75 million In Rainbows CDs, as first reported by Music Ally, while 2001's Amnesiac and 2003's Hail To The Thief sold 900,000 and 990,000 CDs respectively.
As for the pricing-optional, digital version of the album, it generated more money than all of Radiohead's other digital albums combined. Although Radiohead didn't allow any of those albums to be sold through iTunes until June of 2008, that revelation should help silence those who criticized Radiohead's business acumen for allowing fans to pay whatever they wanted to download the album.
Jane Dyball, head of business affairs for Radiohead's publisherWarner Chappell, told attendees at the "You Are In Control" conferencein Iceland that it Radiohead's digital sales made a "materialdifference" to the company's bottom line, thanks in part to aninnovative license that circumvented MCPS-PRS, Britain's royaltycollection society, in favor of a direct license between the band andits publisher that enabled it to act nimbly in the days and weeks afterIn Rainbows first went online.
This unusual arrangement allowed Radiohead's managers to track how muchfans were paying and pull the plug after the averageprice paid declined past a certain point. Predictably, hardcore fans who bought the album immediately were generally paid more than those who showed up three months later did.
Dyball also said that In Rainbows topped Americanand British charts even after being available for free, that Radioheadsold 100,000 units of the deluxe box set version of the album at $80 apop and that In Rainbows – the first Radiohead album available oniTunes – sold 30,000 units in its first week, making it number onealbum there as well.
Apparently, Radiohead band members and a handful ofinsiders had a contest tosee who would come closest to guessing how many times the album wouldbe downloaded, the average price paid, and the number of box sets sold. Chris Hufford from the band's management company,
Courtyard Management, came closest to guessing the outcome. Dyball didnot reveal the average price paid for the download, but othermetrics she revealed indicate that the offering was a resoundingsuccess with high sales revenue and a tour that drew a total of 1.2 million fans.
It certainly didn't hurt that the songs on the album are excellent. There was such focus on the business plan behindthe album, that the music's high quality was ignored to an extent. If those songs weren't among the best Radiohead has ever released, In Rainbows' would never have been such a financial success.
For other bands, labels and publishers, Radiohead's lesson istwofold: release an album in a way that increases fans' respect and makes sense for aspecific band, but you'll also need some quality tunes.
See Also:
- Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead Dominate Amazon MP3 Chart
- New In Rainbows Numbers Offer Lessons for Music Industry
- Radiohead Launches Social Network
- Radiohead Makes Business Plans the New Punk Rock
- Your New Backing Band: Radiohead, Green Day or Both
- Radiohead Hides Several Pots of Gold 'In Rainbows'
Screenshot: Patrick Woodword
