Radiohead Unleashes “In Rainbows” Experiment

Radiohead Blazes New Retail Trail

Radiohead have unveiled one of the most ambitious music retail experiments to date. Dubbed “It’s Up To You”, the influential band will sell their new album “Rainbows” in the unprotected (Digital Rights Management Free) MP3 format for as little as one dollar starting October 10th.

Radiohead, who recently split from their longtime label, Capitol (EMI), after seven albums, has decided to initially unleash their album to the public digitally, and then a special box set in December followed by a general CD release in 2008. “In Rainbows” was produced by Nigel Godrich, who has been at the helm for the past ten years.

The special edition boxed set will cost $80 / £40 and include two vinyl albums, a CD version of the new album and a second CD with additional new songs, artwork and photographs of the band. The digital or boxed set could be pre-ordered from the group’s website InRainbows.com, and early reports suggest that the box set is outselling the digital downloads 2 to 1.

The lowest price you can score the digital release is a dollar, which the group claims will only “cover the credit card fee,” but that transaction fee seems high to us. With this approach, Radiohead has eliminated a label, a wholesaler and retail operations. In addition, Radiohead is now in complete control of “leaking” their own album, sinc no advance copies have been made available to the radio or media outlets.

More information on Radiohead’s In Rainbows.

Author: FutureMusic

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