RADIOHEAD:MUSIC AT

YOUR OWN PRICE

SRISHTY(P16012),KARTIK(16020),RISHABH(P16021),
SANDEEP(P16029),KETAN(P16036),SUBHAJIT(P16047)
 RADIOHEAD THE BAND
Radiohead - popular band of late 20th and early 21st century, began with its single Creep.
Pablo Honey the debut album of Radiohead released in 1993, by 1995 2 million copies
sold in UK and by 2007 almost 1.4 million in US
Became a key marketing priority and released Creep simultaneously in MTV and modern
rock radio stations
5 releases from 1995 to 2003 The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief.
Total sales of approximately 6.6 million copies in US itself
Established a reputation for experimenting with unconventional album release tactics
Awarded Grammy for OK Computer in 1997 and had already developed a lot of followers
over internet
After Hail to the Thief did not renew the contract with EMI ( Capitols Parent Company)
Intention was to reach more hands and questioned the requirement of any record
company, by 2005 started recording record another album
Did not want to succumb to a Decaying Business Model
 MUSIC INDUSTRY
Paradigm shift in way of working digitization of music production, distribution and
consumption
Resulted in fall of recorded music sales from $32 billion to $29 billion
Legacy system of having long term contracts with agreement done to manufacture,
distribute and promote their music was gradually losing its charm
Advent of digital technology had allowed artists to take more control over the production
process
Global Leaders like Universal Musical Group, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI understood the
importance of digital albums and penetrated more market with the digitization.
Digital sales rose from 9% to 15%between 2006-07.
Mass retailer like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and digital retailers like Apple iTunes captured the
market
Physical albums like had a structure which cost nearly $14.25/ album CD
One Digital Album sold on Apple iTunes at $9.99 or $0.99 for an individual song
Subscription services such as Rhapsody or social networking sites such as MySpace boasted
many rock bands to have their albums over internet
 MARKET SHARES FOR MUSIC
DISTRIBUTORS (in %)
Market Share for music retailers
Music companies Digital sales Total sales
(Digital + 30

Physical) 25

Universal Music 26.5 25.7 20

Group
15
Sony BMG 22.5 21.2
10

Warner 16.0 13.8 5

0
EMI 10.5 12.8 Universal Sony Warner EMI Other
Music BMG
Other 24.5 37.5 group

Digital Digital+Physical
MARKET SHARE OF TOP U.S. MUSIC
RETAILERS
Sales
RETAILERS MARKET
SHARE (IN
%)
Wal-Mart 15.8
Best Buy 13.8
i-Tunes 9.8
Amazon 6.7
Target 6.6
Other 47.3
Walmart Best Buy i-Tunes Amazon Target Other
They manufactured, distributed and
promoted artists music
 EXPERIMENTAL PROMOTION
Madonna-Live Nation entered 10 year agreement for albums, concert tours
Prince- released new album as free insert in newspaper-Mail on Sunday
Sells through its website. Recently asked customers to pay whatever they
want to.
Though only complete album available for download-no individual songs.
Also Deluxe box set version launched-2 CDs, digital form and hardcover
book of artwork at over $80.
 CASE ANALYSIS
Entertainment Industry losing about $12.5 billion annually to piracy. This
has fuelled experimentation among artists.
Earlier bands used to enter in a contract with music companies for
distribution of physical copies in stores. Bands used to get 14% of sales.
Now sales are mostly online through websites and i-Tunes etc and music
can be downloaded. Artistsshare-14%, record company share-56% and i-
Tunes share-30%.
Unconventional sales methodology adopted.
Eg: For Kid A- release of 10-40 second blips- nature, picture audio clips.
 LEARNINGS

New promotional ways acknowledge the realities of a digital society and

challenge the existing commercial assumptions.
Was this move a brilliant idea or a move to end the music industry which is
already struggling with funds?
THANK YOU