Radiohead's Sales Strategy

I don't really listen to Radiohead, or keep up with music that much, so I hadn't heard about what the band did when they released their album, In Rainbows, in October 2007. A video I found on YouTube was a news report from Reuters that talked about the way that Radiohead distributed the album. The video says that "CD sales dropped 19%, but digital album sales increased 60% from the previous year," implying that it is important now, more than ever, for bands to come up with inexpensive and effective ways to distribute their music, but still make money. Radiohead did this by selling their album only online, and asking their fans how much they were willing to pay for the album. Reuters interviewed people, and some said $10, while one man said he'd pay $5 or $6, but not $15. I think that this strategy was good because a lot of fans understand that in order to keep making money, a band needs monetary support, so they have to charge for their CDs. But CDs are often overpriced so much that listeners would rather turn to illegal sources of getting music than actually paying for the albums. What Radiohead did ensured that they got paid for their work, but also kept the listeners happy by providing their product at a price that the consumers deemed reasonable. This is a good idea for bands that already have a well-established fan base, but newer bands probably wouldn't be able to use this strategy because new fans may not be willing to pay much for bands that they aren't familiar with. Check out the video here!