Radiohead ends online experiment

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:47

Business IT - Technology

Radiohead's In Rainbows album is no longer available for download, despite the purported success of the 'pay what you like' experiment. The In Rainbows site was replaced with a link to the band's official site on Monday, though the expensive (£40) 'discbox' edition of the album remains available for online ordering while stocks last.

From December 31, In Rainbows will be available as a conventionally distributed CD and LP. It will also be offered through conventional download services, possibly including the iTunes Store.

A statement on the official Radiohead site said "A big thank you to everyone who came and downloaded the music. It's been the most positive thing we’ve done and we hope you shared the experience with others."

According to consumer research firm comScore, 82 percent of people paid nothing for In Rainbows and the average price paid by the rest was $US2.26.

Radiohead disputed these figures, but did not release their own numbers.

Even if comScore was right, the band probably made as much - if not more -  from paying customers than it would with a more conventional distribution and sales model. So were revenues even worse than the research firm's sampling indicated?

Or was an end to the 'set your own price' model needed to secure distribution of the physical album? After all, the CD market is still bigger than that for downloads.