As Radiohead fans around the world rejoice in the sudden announcement that "The King of Limbs", the much anticipated follow up to In Rainbows, will be dropping in digital format on Saturday I am joining in on the celebration and personally applauding them for pushing the envelope once again.
Whether you are a larger national act with a million plus fans or an independent band with a whopping 314 likes on your Facebook page you should be taking notes at just what Radiohead is really doing and why it works.
Radiohead is adopting techniques and retail options from the independent music community and further closing the gap between independent acts and Nationals. The only difference I see here is the perception in the way they pitch the sale.
During my first glances on the King of Limbs homepage the thing that caught me off guard was the fact that physical copies of the record will not ship until May, almost four months from the date of the initial digital release.
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This presale will give Radiohead funding and a good idea of just how many packages and physical items they will have to print. This isn't very different from a 'fan funding' approach that in the independent music community has started to become popular over the last 2 years. In fact any pre-sales of records are fun funding, it just doesn't feel that way when it is coming from a band with the success or stature of Radiohead and when the music is available right away.
Independent bands around the world use sites such as Kickstarter, PledgeMusic and Artistshare to commonly raise money to print their records, go on tour, or go into the studio. I have even seen bands ask for money to fix their van.
Radiohead can afford to fund their recording cost and aren't taking a desperate 'FUND OUR RECORD' approach in the pitch to their fans, obviously because they don't need to. However before they put up any money to print physical copies, they are going to raise some money towards the cause and get a good idea of how many packages they need to print at a first go round.
The perception doesn't seem desperate as it does for Indie bands though. Is that because every single person that purchases this record this week knows that they will get a great product? Does this display how important a rapport with a fan base is? Or is it because they don't really consider that they are actually funding Radiohead to print their record? I think the answer to all of those is yes. Indie bands far and wide can learn just why this works for Radiohead. Offering the free download up front is instant gratification and makes the exchange feel fair.
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| Its all about perception. |
In fact this model reflects the way that the very popular Bandcamp processes orders for artists that sign up to sell music on their site, which is the first place I witnessed this download now ship later process. When you visit an artists Bandcamp page and purchase a record not only do you receive an immediate digital download at the time of purchase but you also have many different file formats in which you download the record, much like the options on www.kingoflimbs.com., and a physical copy will ship at a later date. Although other nationals such as Trent Reznor of NIN have offered multiple file formats in free download format, Radiohead widdled down the many options available in the modern age to two user friendly file types, .wav and .mp3.
They also created a price point between the two by giving them two different prices. Wav files take up more server space and therefore sound better so Radiohead is charging more for those files. I agree that .wav files should be more expensive and this is a great move.
In addition by giving their fans only two package options, digital or physical/digital, Radiohead is going to significantly increase their revenue for anyone that desires to own this record in physical format. Commonly bands sell posters and artwork, vinyls and CDs as separate items online. It is common for bands to sell only one item for presale. Radiohead has only the entire lot available.
To add to the clever aspects of this release, actually purchasing the record in digital format instead of downloading it for free is just as worthy as purchasing a lottery ticket. As the website states on both packages –
"1 Lucky owner of the digital version of the King of Limbs will receive an autographed 2 Track 12" vinyl".
So imagine if that was you. Out of the millions of Radiohead fans in the world YOU could be the one to end up with the “Golden Ticket”. This prize would truly a priceless item of merchandise. Any music listener knows that they can wait until Sunday and find a free download of King of Limbs somewhere online but the possibility of being the winner of that record, despite the odds, will have overzealous Radiohead fans and Ebay juggernauts around the world pulling their credit cards out once again. Anyone who plays the lottery should purchase this record. The winner will be famous and any Radiohead fan knows that they will be getting their moneys worth.
Lastly I think this is one of the rare times I can recall any band releasing a record with little or no heads up. A major label would probably view this as a PR nightmare. Who would release a record without press releases and reviews? There is really no time here to create a buzz right? Considering that 25% of content online is user generated content this isn't that strange. It has been 2 days since the band announced the release of the record and it is being mentioned dozens of times in every one of my feeds by the hour. Who needs the press when you have millions of fans around updating their status with your name and link to new record in it? The general population has become the press!
A lot of the reason while this works for a band like Radiohead is simple.
They are one of the biggest bands in the world. Not every band can get away with a stunt like this but at the very least every band can learn from this.
Radiohead continues revolutionizing their releases with the changing technological and consumer trends of the music business while increasingly closing the gap in the ways nationals and independents release music. We should be grateful for their business/social media savvy and road maps as much as their brilliant and often unparalleled music.
If you were Radiohead what would you have done different for this release and why?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks for reading.
Stephen Francis
Although physical copies of both the CD and Vinyl come out in retailer stores on March 28th Radiohead has chose their presale portion of this release, which is where Fan Funding is rooted, to only show two options. As this post is about the subject of Fan Funding and perception of how to do it in a clever and concealed way I left this information off. If you visit www.kingoflimbs.com there is no mention of this release date which is why it was not included in the original post. I believe Radiohead left that off on purpose. Do you think that Radiohead would leave that detail off on accident? - Ammendment in Re: to @ThisJustin's comment
