On October 10th, 2007, everyone’s favorite band, Radiohead, released their new album, In Rainbows, for whatever the fans wanted to pay for it. This meant the band that sold millions of pounds with their last albums had the potential to sell 0 pounds with it’s current album. And equally as important, it’s the first time fans could fess up to paying nothing for a download, with no consequences, in print, for a band as beloved as Radiohead, and with little guilt.

A box set with the album on CD, two vinyl records, a CD with additional songs, photos, artwork and lyrics was released January 1 of this year, but there is no guaranteeing fans will buy it when they have a downloaded copy at home. Though a few justified paying nothing for the album because they

were planning on buying the set. Kyle Pagel, a student at University of Washington in Seattle, WA writes “I was like ‘Why would I pay for the same thing twice?'” John Dolge, student at Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA, also paid nothing for the download. “I could go into great depth and detail about this, but basically I refuse to pay--anything--for mp3's because...well…I just think it's a waste of money; plus, I'll be buying it proper when it comes out on CD, so I have no qualms.”

Some let logistics dictate the download experience. Josh Halinen from Seattle Pacific University said he didn’t pay for it “Mainly because it was less of bother not to have to put down any credit card information and such...However,” he adds: “Even though I didn't pay anything for it I think it was a very smart idea for them to have their fans name the price on it…I think that less people will just have one of their friends buy and burn it from them because they can just download for free online. But since they have the option to pay a smaller amount they might just do it for the hell of it and because they really respect the artist.” And also they don’t mind giving their credit card number out.

So this system is a unanimous winner with fans, but do they think Radiohead won as well? There are no official stats on the money made in album download sales, but the fans have their own theories and rumors they have heard. Pagel says “I think it's a good idea because the people who are going to download it for free are going to download it for free somewhere else anyway. Good, honest people are going to pay however much they think they should for it. I think I actually heard about some guy who paid $1000 for it so that's kinda cool.” Ashlie Pertler from Greenville College in Greenville, IL, thinks the idea was a winner as well: “It really got the word out and ended up actually making more money for the band, because the public wondered what the big deal was.”

Not that Radiohead isn’t big in the public eye in the first place; one could argue this is the only band that could do this. “I don't think this would work for many other bands. For bands to do this they need a lot of devoted fans. And they need to already be famous, so their name is well known to everyone, so that word gets out about it.” Halinen says. And the devoted fans can be downright gleeful about getting a free Radiohead album “I thought originally there was going to be a transaction fee or something but there wasn't... I got off scott free [smiley emoticon omitted].” Dolge writes. He thinks he’s getting away with no fees, but wait until he realizes he won’t face record company prosecutions or lectures by Sir Paul McCartney. Thank you, Radiohead.

Article by Sally Linn
www.radiohead.com