This should help put one more nail in the coffin of the 20th Century music distribution model. The final numbers are in on Radiohead’s giveway of their latest album “In Rainbows” and it looks good with sales outpacing their penultimate and final big-label album “Hail to the Thief.”
Music Ally reports “In Raibows” selling 1.75 million copies of the physical CD, 100.000 box sets, and 30,000 units on iTunes in the US in the first week of availability. The album was number 1 in both the UK and US for the first three months; it was played 17 million times on Last.FM, and even to this day it’s in the top 200 UK & US as far as sales of the physical CD go.
Granted, Radiohead’s audience may not be the typical fan base, but I think this helps move the industry along toward a better open, free 21st Centry distribution paradigm.