Radiohead Make 10 Million From 'In Rainbows'?

In spite of Radiohead letting fans pay whatever they like for a CD download of their latest release 'In Rainbows', the Oxford-based band has made quite a mint off the album. While fans only paid about half of what new CDs cost in stores, Radiohead has made nearly $10 million dollars (about £4.8 million) in less than a week.

If what is happening is for real, a revolution in the way audiences receive their music may change the music industry forever. A poll made my Gigwise.com had a total of 3,000 participants saying on average they paid £4 for the album. Multiply that by the 1.2 million copies of the album now on fans' computers, and you get £4.8 million pounds!

Because Radiohead is no longer affiliated with a record label, the vast majority of the 'In Rainbows' profit will go to them, with minimal overheads. Compare this to selling it through an online store (iTunes, Snocap, etc), and they could only see as little as 25% of that profit.

Comments

[tumples]

Deserved, lets hope more artists follow suit.

[Shazwazza]

Congrats to Radiohead on this great idea, it has payed off immensely

[recliner33]

I knew they were going to make alot of money from this but I ddin't know it would be this much so fast. If they released this under a record label then I bet they wouldn't have even made one tenth of this in the first week.

[soapalot]

Far out, I didn't think they'd make that much that quickly

[cabbaman98]

Well im happy for them. Is the album even that good? I dont own it and also do not have any tracks from it. so yeh...

[michael_]

This is definitely the way of the future

[lilboisX3]

i got it for free im not even a fan of their music its not my style but i dont have anything to lose like 14 bucks. its okay i couldnt say if its good i mean i dont really like the music they make but they have talent

[MoshMaster101]

cabbaman, its a top top album. Fantastic song after fantastic song. Its well worth getting, seeing as you can choose how much you want to pay for it! If you don't like it, then you haven't wasted a lot of money.

Does anyone know if it's actually legible for the charts?

[registered_user]

amazing, its so refreshing to see the music industry take a positive turn in terms of new ideas

[codybcool]

It was obvious they'd make a lot of money thanks to cutting out a 3rd party distributor or record label, but damn that is a lot of money to make in a week. I'm happy that it's a really good album as well.

However, another fault on behalf of the writing team is that this is being reported as fact. Only 3,000 people did that poll, so how you can state that they have made 4.8 million is beyond me.

[Hondo2112]

Does anyone know if it's actually legible for the charts?

Who cares? The new era is here, IMO. This is something that no one's ever done before. The fans are happy, the bands probably happy if they did indeed get that much money, and who's crying? Th only one's that have NOTHING to do with the music itself in he record labels.

[dimebagsmygod]

Hell yeah! All though I will still buy the cd for the sake of having a hard copy.

[Reliktunes]

they sure deserved that 10 mil.

[richwatkinson]

Reliktunes wrote:

they sure deserved that 10 mil.

Hopefully people wont take this article as radiohead being about the money, but they do deserve it for having the nerve to do something like this.

[HeyStoopid]

to be fair, john wesley (porcupine tree) did this with his solo albums first!

But its a great idea, and a kickass album!

[CapnKickass]

yeah, this is great..

[FunkasPuck]

well, well deserved.
just goes to show, bands can still make money without the record labels deciding everything for them. this could be a landmark event in music history.

[frankv]

The reason they made this much money is because it's a new idea and they're so big, thus have a big diehard fan base. They were sympathised by the idea and might have paid €10 for it. If this becomes the new way of offering cd's it'll make economic sence if everyone just downloaded it for free again. Only the cd buyers will pay, and not as much as for a cd.

[Psycho Pigeon]

they're music is so whiney, it makes me wana slit my wrists.

[thedarkblues06]

Even if it WAS about the money, at least this could kick off a whole new project for Radiohead, take their music to heights they have never reached. I applaud them for this awesome idea.

Psycho Pigeon wrote:

they're music is so whiney, it makes me wana slit my wrists.

Do it. Make sure you run down the road to the mortuary, and not across the street to the hospital. We don't want you to whine anymore anyway.

[Dakin]

Psycho Pigeon :
they're music is so whiney, it makes me wana slit my wrists.

then be my guest and slit away

but seriously though- the evidence seems a bit sketchy, i know loads of people who just payed nothing for it. surveys and polls dont always get it right.

[Nick-182]

skills

[a7xsoad]

Go Radiohead

[ctb]

In Rainbows appears to be an Epic Win for the band and music history.

[Shabalaba]

Thats alot for such a short time. I think its only because its radiohead that it paid off, because they are soo big. I personally dont like em but congrats to them

[tallicafan888]

Well done Radiohead....shame we still have people like Simon Cowell on the record labels.

[Tallman]

All hail the new system!

[LosVatos88]

crazy awesome idea

[SmarterChild]

Anyone else think that this was a huge publicity stunt so they can get a load more money, and when other bands try this they'll get sod all, as it'll have been done before and they won't have a record label to promote them?

[FunkyRenegade]

Good on them!
It's a brilliant album aswell.

[duncang]

That's fantastic for them. This works so well for them because they are already a massively popular band but if this is to become commonplace among all sorts of bands there is one big problem to overcome. New bands will have to pay for all their recording, promotion and all the other things involved in a release that labels cover. While this is easy for Radiohead, new bands will have to struggle to pay up the cash to get their name out there so a release format like this can actually make them a bigger profit than a label release would, considering a label would pay for their promotion and pressing.

[Dave_young]

nope.

[Dave_young]

(that was to SmarterChild)

[Cal UK]

Good for them, hopefully this is the beginning of the end of greedy record labels being used.

[break-me-in]

Wonderful news. Hopefully this'll be how the record industry works now.

[Dr. Metal Head]

I'm not a fan of Radiohead, but what they've done in my eyes, is hopefully what many will start to do. If more bands do this, less will have their music stolen and they'll get more money.

[JackMonty]

codybcool wrote:

It was obvious they'd make a lot of money thanks to cutting out a 3rd party distributor or record label, but damn that is a lot of money to make in a week. I'm happy that it's a really good album as well.

However, another fault on behalf of the writing team is that this is being reported as fact. Only 3,000 people did that poll, so how you can state that they have made 4.8 million is beyond me.

They took the average of what their survey sample stated the paid and multiplied that by the 1.2 million copies sold. This is just a ballpark figure, but even so it stands to reason that they are raking in big $$$ on this project.

[GiantRaven]

I hope acts like this don't get exploited if they become commonplace

Good for them for doing so well though

[~Funky monk~]

go Radiohead!
tho i still prefer having he CD ...
you can't really have proper music collection without it...

[zzany1]

i think this is still a novelty..when bowling for soup bring out their genre and generation defining (not) next album im not sure they will get people paying a lot.

[rlysaght]

Hurray for Radiohead! The RIAA has been putting the screws to both the artist and the consumer for years. I hope this scares those pony-tail havin' Armani suit wearing pr!cks to death. There is blood in the water and the tide is definitely turning in favor of both the fan and the artist.

[Cheesepuff]

Damn... this is going to revolutionize music. Watch, 20 years from now this will be one of those legendary records that changed how music was listened to forever.

[Reiatsu]

Not a fan of this style of music, but major Kudos for pulling this off.

I REALLY hope that figure is not some rumor that UG picked up on w/o verifying first (which they've been known to do...)

But if it is true, then I have a feeling this is going to be the new wave for purchasing music.

Now if we could only get Metallica to go along with it XD

[burndttoast]

I can't imagine many other bands that would make as much money if they do what Radiohead just did.

[GuitarHero1081]

They deserved that 10 mill, way to go Radiohead

[sebbsmith]

Simply amazing.

[codybcool]

"They took the average of what their survey sample stated the paid and multiplied that by the 1.2 million copies sold. This is just a ballpark figure, but even so it stands to reason that they are raking in big $$$ on this project."

I know how it was calculated by the article states this rough, more than likely inaccurate figure, as fact without actually knowing anything, which = writing.

[codybcool]

^bad writing that is

[Absent Mind]

Congrats to them I say, well done.

[Chikao42]

Out of interest, how much money DO most bands see per album sold, in the old way of selling records?

[7DaySkeptic]

That's fantastic news, congratulations Radiohead.

[creativeboner]

Amazing.

[mp3stalin]

can someone put that in US dollars for me? im a stupid american

[antareus]

I'd like to see more statistics behind this before declaring victory over the evil, evil record industry.

[schecter_guy]

Chikao42 wrote:

Out of interest, how much money DO most bands see per album sold, in the old way of selling records?

i think i read somewhere that a band signed to a major label only makes like $3 per album sold, meaning you actually make more money per album as an independant artist.

[yawn]

To be honest, the extent to which this affects the rest of the music industry is minimal. Radiohead made 10 million because they're already known as one of the biggest bands out there. This type of label-circumventing would only work for big name artists, and certainly not for any band or artist who doesn't have as fruitful of a history as Radiohead's.

That said, I still do not doubt that some other big names in the industry might try this as well, with the only setback being that they might be called "Radiohead rip-offs" and thus the idea might not go over as well (especially when it's evident of just how much the band could make).

[Nhex]

well looks like there are ways of making money just by selling records

congrats to them

[perilouspete]

that is unbelievable that they made that much just in ONE WEEK! holy shit.....they could be single-handedly rewriting the book on how to market music from now on....that's awesome

[smidy]

the moneys in the touring not the albums

[stevo192]

yeah this is great. most of the profits going to the people who actually did the work in writing the stuff, rather than the fatcats taking most of the profits

[Midnight Barber]

People in this survey claim to have paid that much. I paid £20 for it.
No I didn't, but someone might believe it and multiply it by 1.2 million to work out how much Radiohead have got.

Really hope they have earned 10 million, but I can't see it being anything like right.

[lordpaco18]

this is the future of music

and radiohead deserves every penny for the incredible music

[S2S]

Everyone is talking about how the album was distributed instead of the album itself. It's fantastic!

I hope all the guys enjoyed the seven dollars I payed for it. :

[GL600FB]

they came up with a great idea and it worked. well deserved

[Nelsean]

Viva la Revolution!

[damienricecakes]

10 mill?!! this makes me feel less guilty for paying nothing :P gna buy the album when it comes out though, one of my fav bands and never cease to amaze me, great album
however i dont think the average band could pull this off, i think it will have an impact, not sure about revolutionary
anyhuuu gr8 album

[Korzack]

Nice. Wish I came up with that one...

[seanbaby27]

Revolutionary. This is going to change the music would for good, I can tell.

What they did was so smart on so many levels. Think about it.

The hardcore radiohead fans are going to buy the albumn, correct? So when they see that the albumn is avaliable at their OWN price? This creates a revolution. Because instead of paying full price and loosing more money then they need to through a record labels pricing system, the fan decideds to go half and half. This in turn supports the band in their endevors, while the consumer saves $ in the proccess!

Sure your gonna have the people who are like "Hey, radiohead is alright, ill download it for free, why not?" Thats a given, however, the true fans will pay and support the band they love, and in mass quantites because of the idea of name your own price.



Brilliant. I hope more bands start to pick up on this trend in the future.

[shwilly]

Nah, I don't think this is gonna work in the long run.

I mean, I paid for this stuff, but I'm not going to pay 4 bux for every album I want, because I'm gonna be a poor mother****er if I keep doing this all the time

[SORocker5678]

and so tolls the death bell for the record companies. This is bad. All the record companies suddenly going belly up will not be good for our economy no matter how you look at it.

[aguynamedlarry]

The simple problem with this is that while, for an already established band like Radiohead, they don't need a record label to exploit them. The fact is no band is going anywhere without a label at first.

[Pukka-VCU]

GL600FB wrote:

they came up with a great idea and it worked. well deserved

While it was deserved, they didn't come up with the idea.... I'd like to see some real sales figures though instead of guesstimation and speculation based on surveys. Incredible album nonetheless, kudos Radiohead.

[soundgarden1986]

Good for them

[blues-guitarist]

every band should do what radiohead did, that way, they get more money and more people get to listen to it

[RHCP94]

Coolio.

[samerika]

That's awesome, i liked the idea and it's good to see them profit from it.

[Widow6]

HeyStoopid wrote:

to be fair, john wesley (porcupine tree) did this with his solo albums first!

But its a great idea, and a kickass album!

Yeah, and they're all free download now on his myspace page, from what I understand. Btw, I met him last thursday =]

About radiohead, however, i'm thrilled this did so well. A new era with the internet is obviously here, and they showed everyone it's going to work. Good for them.

[Td_Nights]

Glad to see a change in the way some people charge for music now.

With the success Radiohead had,others are most likely going to follow suit.

Ozzfest was basically free last time around,so I'm hoping it will be again.

Wonder what lies ahead...

[Td_Nights]

blues-guitarist wrote:

every band should do what radiohead did, that way, they get more money and more people get to listen to it

Suppose it COULD happen,but then all the people running the record labels would get pissed because of no money,and they'd bitch and bitch until something happened.

On top of that,alot of newer,just starting bands need a studio to record in,and almost always can't afford their own.

[Pingis_Or_Death]

Wow. That is a LOT of money.

[Godsmack_IV]

I'm really happy this worked out for them. They do it for the music, not for the money, but they still get paid.

[2icdude]

radiohead comes up with another breakthrough awesome idea.. why doesnt this surprise me lol theyre amazing congrats to them

[ghost_killaz]

This is great because Radiohead is such a great well known band...but I dont think it would work for new and upcomming bands so i agree w/TD_Nights' last comment!!

[Toasty25000]

Not a bug fan but I think that it's great that a band came forward with this new way to sell the CD, congrats to them.

[big duck]

I think it will only work for a while, becuase people who whould never have bought it have bought it for novelty's sake.

[ScreamingCheeto]

this is amazing and surprising. however im skeptical of any "revolution" because the ******* kids all over the place who are unappreciative of the musicians would be donating 25 cents and getting thousands of albums.

[tehREALcaptain]

1 point for radiohead
0 for the music industry

[Confetti]

Thats one hell of a budjet for one album O,O

If i recall it's sayd that all the profit from this album is gouing to the recording budjet for the next album.
What the heck are they gouing to de with all that money? ;D Make some sick music videos?
It bedder be outstanding record darn it

[Dyer's Eve]

Checked/De-Spammed.

[piff665]

Great job by Radiohead. This was a very smart decision even though it could have cost them financially (if that even matters to them). However, i only see this idea working for bands that already have a name for themselves.

[Tehzekester]

Good for them, bet they're happy as hell. When my band releases an album I'd love to pull a Radiohead, but Christ, think of the bandwidth they used ._.

[Parker731]

dimebagsmygod wrote:

Hell yeah! All though I will still buy the cd for the sake of having a hard copy.

same here

[dgme92]

$10m!!!?!! wow, i'm SO glad to see this whole sum of money going radiohead's way instead of some spoiled record company executive.

[theo_siordia]

Very Cool

[CoolDudeMorgasm]

Kudos to Radiohead.

[Krisp]

I think it's a great idea.

[mister bass guy]

leave it to radiohead to start a revolution!

[qOcOP]

cool! i downloaded it for free though

[GrungePb]

registered_user wrote:

amazing, its so refreshing to see the music industry take a positive turn in terms of new ideas

[ready2breakdown]

Thats awesome. Even if the amount is wrong, to even have estimated something in that price range is tremendous. Kudos to them! And I don't even like their music!

[Godsmack311]

i still think this is a stupid idea, something physical is 1,000,000,000x better

[The Spoon]

Hell yeah thats amazing....

i think it would be a good idea to start out with a label for maybe 1 or 2 albums or whatever and then go the radio head way

but congrats to them

[paintITblack39]

checked.

[16kramer05]

Man, I would've contributed too but the stupid download doesn't work for me. I got so pissed off! Anybody else have this problem?

[WhereArtEsteban]

Godsmack311 wrote:

i still think this is a stupid idea, something physical is 1,000,000,000x better

Comes out in January man.

[KileManA7X]

Dude, I paid nothing.

[Shredder Guitar]

not only did they see who the real fans are, but they got the money instead of a snobby old record executive. radiohead is awesome

[Rengori]

It's nice they're doing this, but I doubt in the future people will pay for albums offered like this. People do pay because they like radiohead or whoever or want to "take down the cooperate fat cats" and then after that, when more bands start to do this, people might not choose to pay.

[pinkhaze29]

It's good to see some people payed.

I still haven't got the email about downloading it. I got an email saying I'd get info the next day and that was like a week ago =/ could some one message me if they know what I need to do.

[tbarrettl]

richwatkinson wrote:

Reliktunes wrote:

they sure deserved that 10 mil.

Hopefully people wont take this article as radiohead being about the money, but they do deserve it for having the nerve to do something like this.

Well it was a gamble because look at this

KileManA7X wrote:

Dude, I paid nothing.

And they still have a CD out sometime around New Years that may include bonus tracks from what I read.

[sparky_den]

£4 per buyer....quite shite to be honest

[pancakes]

record companies will not be pleased.

=]

[bananaboy]

This works for a band of Radiohead's scope, but not many bands could pull this off, and definitely no developing bands. It worked for Radiohead because they're so popular, but other bands need money as well as exposure, and they don't get that with this. We don't need to get rid of record labels, we just need some that don't screw bands over.

[WyldeGibsonPlyr]

Thats not surprising. The album is so good as it is, and it is Radiohead were talking about anyway.

[Insolent]

If some new band were to do this with their debut album, I doubt many people would pay much at all for it. Radiohead already had a huge fan base anticipating the album, hence the sales and generosity. The idea is great, but it'd be more practical with an (appropriate) minimum fee. And for god's sake, if you aren't going to give us a CD at least give us lossless downloads!

[psilocyndreams2]

it actually was a brilliant marketing idea, though it would only work for bands with as big of a following as radiohead. even if its like 4 pounds a buyer, that's still much more than they'd make through a record company.

[kooky_kaymo]

its genius

[recliner33]

yawn wrote:

To be honest, the extent to which this affects the rest of the music industry is minimal. Radiohead made 10 million because they're already known as one of the biggest bands out there. This type of label-circumventing would only work for big name artists, and certainly not for any band or artist who doesn't have as fruitful of a history as Radiohead's.

That said, I still do not doubt that some other big names in the industry might try this as well, with the only setback being that they might be called "Radiohead rip-offs" and thus the idea might not go over as well (especially when it's evident of just how much the band could make).

I disagree with you, smaller bands will make more money this way then with a label. The only problem is that the small bands won't have the expenses to record the album and distribute it, that's what their record labels do. They lend the small bands money and shit to make the albums.

[elcapitanloco]

RIP, music industry. And good riddance!

[llanafreak44]

Not interested in the band, but I think this could be the turning point of the music industry and the RIAA. Very innovative idea.

[RadioMuse]

I'm doubtful that Radiohead would keep that kind of money to themselves either. They're sure to spread it around to plenty of worthy causes that they believe in.

What an excellent band. Oh and the music industry is going to grow like crazy as a result of this, the record labels are what's being killed. More music than ever is going to flow to the ears of fans world wide, and as long as live shows remain important to the 'listening experience' then bands will continue to make money and succeed.

[rebreh]

this ausome. Destroy the record companys.

[nklax]

what a great idea!!! they're geniuses, even when i thought that it wouldn't work.

[Godsmack311]

WhereArtEsteban wrote:

Godsmack311 wrote:

i still think this is a stupid idea, something physical is 1,000,000,000x better

Comes out in January man.

sweet i didnt know

[GoWithTheFlow]

if this is how music is gunna be then musicians are gunna get real rich

[Sapient]

aguynamedlarry wrote:

The simple problem with this is that while, for an already established band like Radiohead, they don't need a record label to exploit them. The fact is no band is going anywhere without a label at first.

What if we had a "next-gen" record label?

What I'm saying is, what if someone started up a site something a bit like last.fm where they hosted a bunch of band pulling this same trick? it could be almost like music myspace, except you can buy the album from the band at the same time, and the web company would just charge bands something like 40 bucks a year to be hosted, which could in turn lead to free advertising, a place to sell your cd, and a place where you can list tour dates, etc.
What I'm saying is that if this were to become mainstream, bands wouldn't necessarily need labels the way they did a couple years back. There are so many ways to get your band's name out now.

[Brain245]

Yes! I'm really glad this worked out. I hope that a ton of other big bands start doing this so the record companies will be forced to offer more money to bands and also move on to smaller bands. Then maybe we'll start hearing more original music on the radio and less of this clone bullcrap that they design and carefully choose to sell to the masses.

[Kimby]

That would be sticking it to the man at its finest.

[yawn]

recliner33 wrote:I disagree with you, smaller bands will make more money this way then with a label. The only problem is that the small bands won't have the expenses to record the album and distribute it, that's what their record labels do. They lend the small bands money and shit to make the albums.

Exactly...

[Learn_to_fly]

Kimby wrote:

That would be sticking it to the man at its finest.

well said brother

[Nirvana_RATM2]

Never dug radiohead much , but they are making a pure genius move. Any idiot that thinks they are "selling out" is retarded , the artist makes their art , in every sense with out any help ( aka labels etc.. ) and tell to the world , this is my creation tell ME how much its worth. Thats something to be proud of , :cheers: for radiohead!

[jimmysaint]

great idea by radiohead! i admire them for it... but as for the album... thumbs down. im not one to diss music.. but im glad i didnt pay $15 for it

[Dirk Gently]

Definitely not a move a small band would be able to pull off, but an interesting idea for more established bands that already have a very dedicated following. For the record, after finding out it was 160k mp3, I paid nothing, but I'll buy the CD when it comes out.

[carlsbad]

Honestly, I don't listen to radiohead but I seriously do beleive that they deserve that money for being the first with the balls to say "Hey, Give me how much you want. You can have my music".

[suminorudder]

this is such a fantastic development. i dont like to go out and pay 20 bucks for a cd and hate it, so this seems like the best thing. i can download it for free, then if i like it ill flip them a couple bucks. its so genius of them to stop the middlemen of the industry take all the money and blow up the album price to huge proprtions.

[DeadDerykk88]

Boooo individualism, YAY CORPORATIONS

[dieloony2]

that is amazing.

[Nybb]

Other bands have done this before, but props to Radiohead for pulling it off so well. Great album by the way. I'm loving Bodysnatchers and All I Need. I paid nothing for it, but once they release the actual CD I probably will. I certainly will if it comes with extra stuff.

[pigmaggots]

Like they need more money.

Its a good idea for established bands but us new ones cudnt do that!

[pringa]

we need someone to contact radiohead to borrow money for the UG Missile Base

[Agony]

Radiohead did NOT come up with this idea, but it's cool that they did it anyway.

[LegsOnEarth]

You fools! they were meant to make nothing!
Stop being so sympathetic!

[diaspora]

I've only recently gotten into radiohead, but man, i love them! im happy they made this much money!

[Forcemaster]

frankv wrote:

The reason they made this much money is because it's a new idea and they're so big, thus have a big diehard fan base. They were sympathised by the idea and might have paid €10 for it. If this becomes the new way of offering cd's it'll make economic sence if everyone just downloaded it for free again. Only the cd buyers will pay, and not as much as for a cd.

Exactly.

[fornillia]

that is cool

[Birdy266]

Thats pretty cool, good to see people actually paid for it

[Mr_Jubby_Jubs]

This could be the start of something. Perhaps not if artists always let people pay what they want, but if it was still a lot cheaper it could work.

[lachlandavis]

You have to remember though, that only the biggest bands can afford to do it to this extent

[Badreligionrock]

I doubt they've made $10m, but even so, well done to them.

However it's still not gonna change the music industry that much; Radiohead can only do this because they have a large, dedicated fanbase and a big name in music to ge this out to the press. Smaller bands would just not be able to do it.

[Zero457]

I think its funny how they used the record company to make them famous, and then turn from the record company and use that fame to make money on their own. It's a common business practice outside of the entertainment industry all over the world. They treated the record deal like an apprenticeship. ...without that... Radiohead would still be playing bars on wednesdays and stuff. (not selling millions)

I think its fantastic that they could be making so much money off the record. CD's cost too much in stores. The consumer responded pretty well when given the choice to get it for a reasonable price.

[the_witch]

zeroyon wrote:
I think its funny how they used the record company to make them famous, and then turn from the record company and use that fame to make money on their own. It's a common business practice outside of the entertainment industry all over the world. They treated the record deal like an apprenticeship. ...without that... Radiohead would still be playing bars on wednesdays and stuff. (not selling millions)

Apparently, record labers and music stores likes ripping off kids' money nowaday. Haven't you heard NIN is off the label too?

[linkinwayne]

Great. Good job to Radiohead. The album is fantastic btw

[seabass324]

if i were to be in a band and want to record an album i'd just get a job and save up to buy my own equipment and learn everything so i'd never need a label. and as for publication, how about friends i know about 15 people i know would buy it or download it for free or w.e just cus i'm me, they could suggest to another 5 people each and the cycle continues, if it's good it'll get big enough for me no matter what. so if i were to want to be a musician which i already decided that i'd give my music away cus i don't want to make my money off of music, but i'd never get a label, just by my beliefs.