DrumGit, Curtis Cunningham’s blog.

So, One Week Later, Is The Album Dead Yet? — The Seminal :: Independent Media and Politics

This is very cool. If this proves to be true it’ll terrify the record companies as their cover has been blown on what they’ve been getting away with for years.

Last week, Radiohead released their latest album, In Rainbows, for free, asking fans to pay whatever they liked for the full length downloadable work. To me, the writing on the wall was clear. Radiohead wasn’t the first to give away their music, and they won’t be the last. I declared the era of free music to be upon us and the album as a saleable item dead. Many thought I was right.

A week later, the “sales” numbers for In Rainbows are starting to leak. By my calculations, Radiohead made out with a ton of money.

According to a source close to the band, In Rainbows has “sold” approximately 1.2 million copies as of October 12th. In comparison, that’s more albums sold in the first week than Radioheads’ last three releases combined. According to an Internet poll of 3,000 people, the average price paid for In Rainbows was $8. If these numbers are accurate, Radiohead has made close to $10 million in one week on this album alone.