Please note one staggering detail:
* The In Rainbows deluxe edition sold 100,000 copies via Radiohead fan service W.A.S.T.E.
This was sold for $80, do the math and you'll see the band had an intake of $8 million just from this special package. It was a great package full of goodies that may have been expensive, but ultimately proved to be a fair price. To give you a sense of the money made, Metallica (who is signed to Warner Bothers) receives $4 per album sold (widely discussed as the best contract in the business). Their new album Death Magnetic has sold a little over 2-million copies worldwide, so they have reaped about $8 million as well...alas, Radiohead did virtually no promotion prior to this year and Metallica has been everywhere the last few months. What Radiohead has ultimately proved is that they are better off without being signed to a major label. Will other artists follow suit?
xT
PRESS RELEASE follows:RADIOHEAD: 'IN RAINBOWS' SALES DATA REVEALED
Little more than a year since Radiohead's October 10, 2007 pay-what-you-like self-release of its seventh album, In Rainbows, some conclusive statistics were made available at the recent "You Are In Control" conference in Reykjavik, Iceland.
For those who missed coverage of the conference while engrossed in something as trivial as the Presidential Debates or the world economic collapse, the following is a summation of key answers to FAQs:
* In Rainbows has sold three million copies thus far, a figure that includes downloads from Radiohead.com, physical CDs, a deluxe 2-CD/vinyl box set, as well as sales via iTunes and other digital retailers.
* The In Rainbows deluxe edition sold 100,000 copies via Radiohead fan service W.A.S.T.E.
* Radiohead made more money prior to In Rainbows' January 2008 physical release than its total take on 2003's Hail To the Thief.
* The physical release of In Rainbows entered both the US and UK charts at #1 in January, despite having been freely available since October 2007.
* In Rainbows was the first Radiohead album available on iTunes, where it went in at #1 in January, selling 30,000 in its first week.
In Rainbows also owns the singular distinction of being the first record widely regarded as album of the year in advance of its actual physical release: By the time TBD/ATO released In Rainbows to retail on January 1, 2008, the digital version had already topped the 2007 year-end lists at NEW YORK, THE NEW YORK TIMES, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, NPR, TIME, PEOPLE, ROLLING STONE, BLENDER, SPIN, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES and many more.
Radiohead recently concluded a world tour in Japan, one that sold over 1.2 million tickets.
