Radiohead has decided to respond to the previous coverage of their social experiment of offering their album online at a name-your-own price. According to a study (by a third party, comScore), only 38% of downloaders paid something while the 62% majority paid nothing. And of those paying, most paid less than $4. While it was fun to speculate on what this could mean for the music industry, turns out any speculation was based on more speculation (comScore’s). Here’s what Radiohead had to say:
“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… it is impossible for outside organisations to have accurate figures on sales.
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.”
“True success?” So I take it the results were better than what comScore assumed. Whatever the case, the band has to know the world is interested in these numbers. I mean, come on, how can we speculate on the fate of the music industry if we don’t know Radiohead’s “true success?”
*Update* ComScore stands by its original numbers and says, “We’re confident in our data… There’s a minimal margin of error based on the size of the sample we used and the narrow range of values.” In the mean time, Radiohead tells BBC News that the real data is “not for public consumption” as “people were still downloading [the album].”
Now I’m curious to know why Radiohead is uninterested in sharing. “People still downloading” is a weak excuse at best; the band could simply release numbers for the initial month of October. What do they have to hide?
Radiohead is actually selling the results of their social experiment for 3.4 million dollars.
Hmm… well, people should be aware that ComScore is based on panel measurements, etc. and they have a view of a select sample of the internet population and based on that they extrapolated out the sales worldwide.
Too bad Radiohead sucks.
It’s a nice scam they’re pulling. You know they’re gonna release a CD in stores of the same album within a few weeks. What they’re doing is the equivalent of McDonald’s charging you for parking.
The bad numbers are from the record companies trying to scare other bands out of doing the same thing.
Unfortunately people don’t seem to realize that the numbers ComScore generates are dangerously inaccurate; they’re extrapolating from such a tiny number of users there is no possible way they can give an accurate picture.
Someday people will realize what a crock the comscore numbers are.. hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.
@mike
Source?
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I agree that the ‘study’ is a crock.
It’s being bandied about to show how Radiohead method is a failure. Who wants it to be a failure? The record companies will do anything to show it is!
The truth is even if it WAS true that so many users pay nothing, most of the time major labels don’t pay their artists anything, either! They give them ‘advances’, and have the bands pay for recording from that money. SO much gets wasted on expensive studios and producers and stuff, they often end up OWING the label money, for using their studio etc.
Plus the bands only get a dollar or two a CD, at BEST.
So even if the 62% was true Radiohead still made more money than usual.
It seems to me that not releasing the scores is a part of the business model. If your fans know that you made multi-millions, next time they might not contribute as in their minds you already got your fair dues. Releasing the true numbers might be what all the tech geeks want, but it would not be a good move either by Radiohead or any other artist. It’s better for them to simply say that it’s a success and leave it at that.
@Chris – you are an idiot. Scam?! Downloaders DIDN’T have to pay anything to get the album. How is that a scam? And now they are going to release “In Rainbows” the way they’ve released all their other albums via traditional distributor. STFU.
petron–
Yeah.. cuz every other artist releases their album twice…
They “sold it” to people who knew about the online promotion (those who paid), and now they’ll “sell it” again in CD stores for $15 bucks a pop.
Sounds like a scam to me. I wish my boss would pay me twice for the same work.
Tell me– did you even read everything I wrote? Or just stop at the word “scam”? The latter seems more likely since you didn’t address 99% of what I wrote.
Chris, you’re an idiot. Are you suggesting that every person that bought the album online will be forced to purchase the album again in cd form? Radiohead is offering the album in multiple forms, physical and digital, and the price for the digital copy is negotiable. A scam suggests there is some fraud going on, clarify where this fraud takes place. Radiohead is not getting paid twice, they are getting paid per sold album, regardless of which form the album comes in.
Chris: “Sounds like a scam to me. I wish my boss would pay me twice for my work”. As everyone else said, you’re an idiot. Obviously anyone who downloaded the album for free and/or did pay anything for it will not go out and buy the album from stores considering they already own it now.
Use some common sense.
“It’s a nice scam they’re pulling. You know they’re gonna release a CD in stores of the same album within a few weeks. What they’re doing is the equivalent of McDonald’s charging you for parking.”
Riiight. You didn’t think that one through all the way. If i’ve already got the download, why would I buy it on CD unless they added something to the package. If you don’t have internet and aren’t able to download it, you can still buy it on CD.
This would be what’s called smart.
General concensus says that Chris is an idiot.
Radiohead will release the album in digital format, on CD, perhaps even on LP (DJ’s still buy those things) for a triple scam!!!! Then, they will most likely go on the road and sing the SAME SONGS that are on the album!!!!
Chris, STFU
I’m sure they had a goal outside of making money, that is why the project was a “true success”. Musicians make music for the fans and themselves, not for a record company or money. Getting paid for what we love is just a bonus.
@ Chris
OK Chris, let me make sure I have this right.. Your complaining about the option of downloading an album for free. Then claiming then they do use traditional method to sell their album it’s a scam? So what part of that is a scam again? Were you forced to buy the album twice, no. Were you forced to pay extra, no. Were you able to receive the album for free if you wished, yes. Yeah, good scam. Moron.
Yeah, I think this is a good idea. I’m assuming Radiohead has made a profit and I hope that other artists may follow suit in the long run.
Chris … STFU
What many people seem to be missing is exactly what the major labels are missing: the music should be free(or cheap) because it promotes the band and makes their other products more valuable. The CD (hopefully) will have added features that people will want to pay for, even if they already paid for the tracks. Likewise, concerts and other merchandise become more profitable because more people know about the band than would if the music was not freely distributed.
Re: Chris
I DONATED $10 for the download and I have already burnt it to CD, loaded it on both computers, put it on my iPod, and my xbox360. and guess what?
I will not be buying the CD
Wow thats some scam.. They really showed me. So Chris hiow much is the RIAA paying you?
ah hahahahha here’s to piracy , i mean REALLY why buy something when you can just download it ? duuuuuhhh duuuuuhhhh , use common sense what are most people going to do duhhhhhhhhhh
i also enjoy how the average price paid for the album, as cited by the 3rd party, was less than $4. personally i would much rather see the AVERAGE price paid overall for those who paid, and not the overall % who paid less than $5. think of it this way. just as an example lets say 55% of people pay $4 or less. the rest decide to pay $20. the actual average cash value per sale would be well above the $4 mark they are quoting. another example is Trent Reznor. in an interview recently he said he paid $5000 for the download.
@pirate – youre right most people will download it for free, but there are those of us who will buy the download in order to support both the cause (digital music and profits in the hands of the band, not the record company) and the artists themselves (since radiohead sees 100% of the profits from the downloads). the experiment is broader reaching now with Saul Williams releasing niggytardust with trent reznor. its $5 for the download if you want a high quality copy, or free otherwise.
@Chris
So, what label do you work for?
what they did is a scam actually, they did it to prove they didn’t need a label but just used the press to sign to a better record deal, and lots of extras will be added to the cd set some copies will be like 80 bucks so lots of downloadeds will buy for the extras
@thom yorke – a scam implies that they did not share this information with the public and made the charges mandatory on the download. it ISNT a scam because 1. they announced the download along with the announcement of the $80 product. there was no misleading. and 2. the download could be downloaded for free. thats right no cost at all. aka no scam.
The funny thing is that Radio Head’s music is actually worth nothing. So, people were paying the true value of the work. Seems like the experiment was a success to me. Anyone who paid, overpaid! When a good band tries this, I expect the results to be much better for the band.
Even if the study is accurate, which I think it probably is, it’s still a win for Radiohead since they are getting most, if not all, of the proceeds. The only real loser is the record company. It’s just like SPAM…you only need a small percentage to buy your product to be profitable. My guess is that Radiohead made more net profit from this experiment than from any album they have ever sold. THAT is the measure of it’s success or failure.
@Chris
“Obviously anyone who downloaded the album for free and/or did pay anything for it will not go out and buy the album from stores considering they already own it now.”
Exactly. So how is this a scam? It’s like releasing a pay-what-you-want soft cover and fixed-price hardcover version of the same book; some will acquire one while some will acquire every possible release sue to fandom or devotion (LotR/HP anyone?).
Anyways, it’s a moot point as they already stated a while ago that they will be releasing a re-mastered version of this album. They’re covering the market, getting people to listen to their music who may not have otherwise, and are getting decent publicity out of it to boot. You can’t get much better.
@ ninja actually it is a scam they were trying to make themselves look independent saying they didn’t need a label but it was just to get attention for them to get a higher paying record deal
what a fucking retard!
Any way radiohead pulled a stunt got a lot of publicity and is making money so they win, the label still wins cause they are still making more than radiohead, and we all lose cause that album is trash and sounds like they wrote and recorded it all in one day
It’s not a scam if they leverage online success to get a better contract with a record label.
In order to release a physical copy (as they plainly stated they intended to do) through the normal distribution channels a record label is necessary. What’s wrong with trying to get a fair contract by proving that your CD is going to sell.
Also, I am inclined to believe that they already had things worked out with the label (since they had a price/release set and announced already), which makes the other arguments defunct anyway
mr. thom yorke, it’s not possible to record an album in one day. Also, I see no reason for people (including you) to litter the comments section of a blog with your negative comments. If you don’t like it, fine. But why does everyone else have to hear about it?
the cd wasn’t set to release for overs year they were just fishing around for the best offer they didn’t have a deal until a week after rainbows release
Even if the figures were correct, Radiohead is making out great. 1.3 million DLs w/ 38% paying an average of $6. That’s almost 500,000 x $6 or $3 million. This is all profit for the band, with no overhead. Do you know how much money a band actually sees for selling a million CDs? Not nearly $3 million.
@ thom yorke, using media and financial leverage to get a better record deal is not a scam its capitalism. There is nothing illegal or scam-like about what they did. A record company still puts up the money for recording studios, tours ect. If Virgin or Sony offered their artist’s albums online for the same “pick-your-price” deal, then its no different to Radiohead. It’s not a scam, no-one is being fraudulent about any claims. People are sick of cd-store prices and atmospheres, its only natural for companies/artists to evolve and market themselves more profitably. Don’t be fooled, its always about making the most money. It’s extremely cost effective to sell music online, its basically 100% profit.
@ jim it is very possible to record an album in one day trust me I have done it. I was just making reference to how unoriginal and foul sounding in rainbows is. And forums are fpr debating so knock off the litter nonsense i was just informing everyone it was all a stunt for them to get more money as if they didnt have enough already. I know labels dont give artists enough and it is good they released it without a label. But they called it a revolution and nothing really changed aside from a few other artists following the trend
“Any way radiohead pulled a stunt”
What? Whatever you say clown. Just because you dislike the album doesn’t change the fact that the band is trying something different, and actually caring about their fans… Plenty of options to hear their music – even a FREE one. That’s revolutionary, and YOU are missing the point. Sorry dude. You got passed by 🙂
Well, I would not have interpreted comScore’s numbers as a failure. It probably did not bring in the same amount of money per listener but I am sure the total sales were greater than if they had released it solely on CD. Also, by releasing the album online, the overhead for distributing their music is almost nothing (Radiohead obviously did not spring for a high dollar website design company). So they made just as much money for less overhead and most probably they will have more people interested in paying to see them live when they come to your local venue (which is where the artists make most of their money anyway). There is no way to interpret this experiment as a failure.
joel, there was no revolution, radiohead has done nothing new, countless bands have released albums for free on their sites, but radiohead was the only one to do it to get a bigger deal, its not a revolution they are on one of the biggest labels they could easily produce actual cds and sell yhem from theor online store without a label
@Jim, they don’t need a record contract, they merely need a distributor. There is a world of difference. With their name and money, I doubt they’ll need to look far.
What they did was Awesome and most honest people will pay a decent price for the download and the people that get it for dirt cheap probably would have downloaded it for free the minute they could anyways.I was under the impression that if you pre ordered the CD from there site you also got the download as well.