The Revolution Will Be 01110010 01100001 01100100 01101001 01101111 01101000 01100101 01100001 01100100
by Robert Mohns - November 12, 2007 / 3:25pm View more articles
Radiohead, having finally gotten free of its record label contract, has done an interesting experiment in music distribution. They've forgone the traditional distribution channels -- which now includes the iTunes Store, by the way -- in favor of selling their music directly on their web site.
And when I say sell, I don't mean they set a price. They let fans download the album and choose their own price, paying as much or as little as they think it's worth.
On average, this is amount is $2.26.
Gosh, how can a band make a living at $2.26 per album?
Potentially pretty well.
In the US, artists make about $1.00 per physical CD sold -- that's right, a buck. Even less for download formats such as the iTunes Store. The other 90% is split between the retailer and the record label.
Selling directly, at a fifth to a sixth of the retail price of a CD, Radiohead is realizing over twice the revenue per album.
No wonder the music industry is so terrified of digital distribution.
And when I say sell, I don't mean they set a price. They let fans download the album and choose their own price, paying as much or as little as they think it's worth.
On average, this is amount is $2.26.
Gosh, how can a band make a living at $2.26 per album?
Potentially pretty well.
In the US, artists make about $1.00 per physical CD sold -- that's right, a buck. Even less for download formats such as the iTunes Store. The other 90% is split between the retailer and the record label.
Selling directly, at a fifth to a sixth of the retail price of a CD, Radiohead is realizing over twice the revenue per album.
No wonder the music industry is so terrified of digital distribution.
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Fun over with, it's now back to the spaced out version. Our site was designed to accommodate language, not long binary versions of ascii... :)