Radiohead, the band behind the hit song "Creep" are disturbing music labels with their decision to offer their upcoming album In Rainbows as a digital download with a name your own price option. Time reports that consumers can pay whatever they want for the digital download from zero on up.
In Rainbows will be released as a digital download available only via the band's web site, Radiohead.com. There's no label or distribution partner to cut into the band's profits - but then there may not be any profits. Drop In Rainbows' 15 songs into the online checkout basket and a question mark pops up where the price would normally be. Click it, and the prompt "It's Up To You" appears. Click again and it refreshes with the words "It's Really Up To You" - and really, it is. It's the first major album whose price is determined by what individual consumers want to pay for it. And it's perfectly acceptable to pay nothing at all.
Radiohead's contract with EMI/Capitol expired after its last record, Hail to the Thief, was released in 2003; shortly before the band started writing new songs, singer Thom Yorke told TIME, "I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one. And, yes, it probably would give us some perverse pleasure to say 'F___ you' to this decaying business model." On Sunday night, guitarist Jonny Greenwood took to Radiohead's Dead Air Space blog and nonchalantly announced, "Hello everyone. Well, the new album is finished, and it's coming out in 10 days. We've called it In Rainbows. Love from us all."
You can see a countdown to the release of In Rainbowshere. In Rainbows will be out on October 10th. You can get it at www.inrainbows.com. Raidoheads website is located at here.
Radiohead's decision has sent shockwaves around the music world. Some even thought it was a hoax (via Boing Boing).
A BBC story (via Digital media wire) says most people are paying for the download even though it isn't a requirement.
Mr Chalmers also said that to date, most fans were pre-ordering the "discbox" and that very few fans were trying to download the album for next to nothing.
He said: "Although the idea is that you can decide what you want to pay, most people are deciding on a normal retail price with very few trying to buy it for a penny."
In Rainbows will be available to download from 10 October with the "discbox" version following on 3 December.
Salon's The Machinist estimates (via Green LA Girl) Radiohead needs to make about $1.50 per sale to beat a label deal.
How smelly of a stink bomb is Radiohead's move, record industry-wise? The band is a powerhouse; though they're the most adventurous rock group working today, Radiohead manages to keep a supremely loyal fanbase, and their albums consistently sell well. Any label would have swooned for it -- though, as ever, only on terms unfair to the artists.
For every $1 song sold on iTunes, according to reports, Apple keeps about 30 cents, giving about 70 to the record label. But activists say artists typically get just 8 to 14 cents per song from the deal -- or about $0.80 to $1.40 per album sold digitally.
So that's the main test here; in order for the band to come out ahead, Radiohead needs to clear only more than a buck-50 per sale. Easy.
Radiohead, the band behind the hit song "Creep" are disturbing music labels with their decision to offer their upcoming album In Rainbows as a digital download with a name your own price option. Time 
