‘In Rainbows’ Model = A Once-Off
April 30, 2008 by Ailbhe Malone
Filed under Anablog
It seems that giving away an album for free isn’t really viable going forward, as business types say. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Thom ‘Winky’ Yorke says that:
“I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation… It was a one-off in terms of a story. It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do. I don’t think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time.”
Which is, one would suppose, a more diplomatic way of saying that they were unhappy with their record company.
If and when more artists release media gratis, they’d do well to look to this media-savvy plot fan-based promotion.
This just shows that Radiohead aren’t nearly as smart as the people who work for them. They made 10 million dollars in the first week of downloads, keeping a much higher percentage of profits than the 8-12% they’d make at retail or the 7% on iTunes. Additionally, their erstwhile record label made an enormous profit surfing the publicity with a best-of box set. Moreover the additional fanbase and goodwill generated from the release which was (as far as I can recall) more popular in legitimate and illegitimate downloads than the bands last three albums, is incalculable.
While this isn’t a model that would work for everyone, – you need to be famous already to generate the interest – it’s absolutely a viable alternative going forward. As Nine Inch Nail’s have shown with their Ghost’s release – http://www.analoguemagazine.com/the_blog/nine-inch-nails-new-album-free/. Which incidentally sold out it’s run of 2500 dollar delux edition versions at 300 dollars each, in two days!
That’s the thing, I don’t this the whole operation was an attempt to try out a new business model and make more money. It was just what it looked like at face value, a weird experiment. Not surprised that they won’t be keeping it going, and won’t be surprised when it doesn’t sell half as well as In Rainbows, but what does that matter in the end.