Radiohead makes labels' history...but don't hold your breath for Paranoid Surroundoid

Just 38 percent of Radiohead fans paid for the latest album, according to data recently supplied by comScore. The band allowed fans to name their price for the downloadable release, "In Rainbows", a closely-watched experiment. While most fans grabbed the album for nothing, a significant percentage paid modest amounts. According to the data, 17 percent paid an average of $4 for the album, while 12 percent paid between $8 and $12.

The result deflates the excitement surrounding the effort, heralded by many as a groundbreaking model. It also challenges the levels of loyalty that established bands can expect from longtime fans. But 38 percent still represents a meaningful number, and earnings appear respectable. Radiohead sold well past one million units on the album, and the band no longer pays a label cut.

Elsewhere, large numbers of fans continue to grab the album outside of the Radiohead website on free file-sharing networks, another unexpected development. In related Radiohead-room..

Radiohead has already said goodbye to EMI and its subsidiary, Parlophone. But the major label is now jumping into the energy surrounding the latest Radiohead release, "In Rainbows". Just recently, the group reissued a number of Radiohead classics and bundled them into a convenient box set. The albums - Pablo Honey, The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail To The Thief, and I Might Be Wrong - are now being offered for pre-order on radioheadstore.com.

Parlophone is also taking the extra step of offering the entire back catalog in the form of a 4GB USB stick. The stick contains WAV files and digital artwork, and looks like the Radiohead bear logo. Alternatively, fans also have access to the catalog in a bundled pack of 320kbps MP3 downloads. "We are particularly excited about the USB stick, which gives fans an easy and portable way to carry the box set and provides another way of bridging the world between on-line and off-line content," said Miles Leonard, managing director at Parlophone. The various configurations start at £34.99 ($72.83), but unlike In Rainbows, consumer cannot name their own price.

Comments

[Tim McDonnell]

Music seems to have less value with many people these days, thus the weak prices paid when left to their own devices. Until people value music properly, this model cannot possibly replace the labels approach. I'd like to move on myself, but this doesn't bode well.

Surround will continue with or without the labels; perhaps OK Computer and other Radiohead albums can be licensed to someone to release them in 5.1?