If the Wall Street Journal knows anything, it's money... and apparently the titles to some Radiohead songs. (Hey, we're guilty of that too!) Anyway, the Journal points to a poll conducted by NME that finds that "the average fan appears to be willing to pay $10 for a digital copy" of Radiohead's In Rainbows. Radiohead's fitter, happier approach slices out even more cost. The band pulled the ripcord on EMI, so it doesn't have to share profits or help pay the label's overhead. As a well-known band it's also able to take the knives out on marketing and promotion costs, cutting these by as much as two-thirds. Subtract these expenses and Radiohead may be able to distribute an album for as little as $3.40 a copy.
Now, fans may be delighted to pay $10 because they think the album is so good and Radiohead deserves the extra cash. But Radiohead prides itself on its anticorporate and anti-materialistic ethos. To avoid letting down fans, it might be more productive to adopt a no-surprises policy and fix a simple, fair charge for its record.
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In other Radiohead news (via Billboard): Radiohead's spokesperson has denied that the band's new album, "In Rainbows," will get a standard physical release Dec. 3 through EMI, after market-leading U.K. retailer HMV started taking pre-orders for the CD via its online store.
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Radiohead's spokesperson says the band has not re-signed to Parlophone, EMI or any other label for "In Rainbows," adding, "They have not signed a deal and it will not be released then. They are talking to labels at the moment."
The music industry is so fudged!
