Radiohead's latest album "In Rainbows" is available online for... whatever price you want to pay. That's right, you can download the album and decide yourself whether it's worth £1 or £100. For Radiohead fans, my guess is that many will plunk down the typical cost of a CD. For newcomers, maybe much less. Poll surveys indicate that the average sale price is just under £4, or around $8 USD, though some sources say the actual results are much less and possibly less than the band would make from a standard CD publishing deal. Still, first day sales were over 1.2 million units.
It's an interesting experiment, but it's not about altruism; Radiohead is not abandoning the rights to their music or becoming a charity. But still, it's nice to see a major band cut out the middleman and thumb their nose at the traditional music labels.
Note that you can also order a deluxe box-set version ($80) which will be available in December and it's likely a regular CD version will be available in 2008.
- Radiohead: DeadAirSpace, Store
- Guardian: Radiohead's Rainbow Could Signal Danger for Record Giants
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