Radiohead In Rainbows Download Statistics Revealed

by Guitar Bassman

Much has been discussed concerning Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” album. The album’s pay-what-you-want model sparked lots of debate, discussion and intrigue in the record industry. The album was successful, but it’s pretty obvious that as far as a business model it wouldn’t work for a band not already very successful, famous and favored by the press.

In Rainbows ended up selling 3 million across all formats. It is worth noting that the band made more money on “In Rainbows” before its physical release than they did altogether on 2003’s “Hail To The Theif.”

“Radiohead’s publishing company, Warner Chapell recently revealed some information regarding the albums actual sales. According to Warner Chappell’s Jane Dyball, the band and its management tracked the amount fans were choosing to pay with the intention of canceling the download option if the price dropped too low. Warner also revealed that licensing the digital rights directly, and not through the standard collection agencies, was a key revenue generator.”

So, they still haven’t revealed the average download price, but it is interesting that they were tracking and monitoring the amount fans were paying.

Some more statistics regarding the “In Rainbows” release…
• After being made available for free for 3 months the album was no.1 in the UK and in the US
• 1st Radiohead album on iTunes – no.1 album selling 30,000 units in the US in the first week
• The physical CD has sold 1.75 million to date and is still top 200 UK & US
• They sold 100k boxsets via W.A.S.T.E.
• Nearing 17 million plays on last.fm
• 1.2 million fans will see the tour
• The digital income from the experiment made a material difference to WCM’s UK digital revenue this year

Source.