Most people paid nothing for Radiohead

I'd love to hear what Radiohead expected and whether or not they'll do this again.

I was planning on buying the album, but never got around to it. I am surprised that people didn't chip in anything, I was at least going to throw a couple bucks their way. I feel like not paying is taking advantage of the band's generosity a bit and it makes me sad.

and I was one of those...

I can't imagine that it was such a big issue for Radiohead. They have reached a very profitable level of fame with previous records and it seemed like something they were doing to give back to their fans. Thank you again, Thom.

well, that's all one way of looking at it. or u could think about it as close to 40% of ppl did pay something for it. i wonder what the numbers would be if u looked at how everyone acquires an album released in a traditional manner: do 40% of ppl go out and purchase it (be it on iTunes or in stores)?

i think the more important figure is how much money they actually made off of those who did pay. was it comparable to regular sales? more? less? in the end, if some ppl are willing to pay more, shouldn't some ppl be able to get it for less?

anyway, i would be interested in how much they're making in the end. also, profits from record sales are way more important to the labels than the artists because the latter make way more off of touring and merchandise.

I think they'll make their money in other ways, like concerts, licensing their music for movies/tv, and the expanded version of the album that sells for $82 coming out in January. I think it's more important to get the music out to as many people as possible and the money will come. The album is like a commercial, if you like it, you'll pay for some of these other things. I paid 0 for the album as well.

I paid roughly $5 for it...I wanted to support the idea and give them a hand in saying 'Fuck the record companies'...I usually get music from bit torrent sites, but i thought if enough people did this, it could usher in an utterly new era....Most bands are way overpaid to begin with and have lost sight of the "why". Take for instance Metallica who started suing their fans for "illegally" downloading music...people who have made them millionaires many times over through the years and who are mostly semi-poor kids.

And even if only that percentage paid for it (and those are just American figures gathered through polling, mind you) that's still MILLIONS of dollars going straight to the band and bypassing the overpaid record co. execs....

Right on Radiohead...And if you see media saying that the low percentages mean they failed, maybe look and see who the parent company of said media outlet is....

The average was $8. It was a great experiment. Go Radiohead!!

good for radiohead. frankly in an industry dominated by disposable media (with no warranty). i feel the "record companies" deserve Nada. and the fact that radiohead is willing to allow the people to have access to their music sans record industry is truly representative of the power of the internet. and a hell of a good deed on their part. i had no idea they rocked so frikn hard. im a new fan.

i wonder what percent they normally see, post record industry..?

so ok where are these so called statistics coming from? Who really knows apart from the band? either way it got people listening to their music (which is frickin' great).

That 38% is better than everyone downloading it for free!!!

you have to think though the box set at 82 bucks. You know there are at the super least there are 1 or two die hard radiohead fans who are gonna buy it. I've heard not read up on it or anything that they have already made more from this album than all their previous albums combined.

Ik vind het triest dat asl je de muziek van Radiohead mooi vindt dat je dan niets betaald. Echt, zo triest.

Scott_Logan spot on. This is yet another completely made up stat. Thom has come out and said that there is no way of anyone other than the band knowing what was paid for the album, as it was all run from their own servers. He also went on to say that they hadn't yet compiled all the data to find out what the average price was, and I should imagine that they wont tell anyone even if they did know!

Go read this

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,2221299,00.html

With 1.2 million downloads the album generated around $3 million. That's not too bad. It means you have reached a hell of a big audience. Besides, it's a lot more money than they would have received when using a recordcompany, managers and all that. TLC's first album sold 10 million copies, the girls got about $150 thousand each. And they say when you download music you steal from the artist? What a joke.