Radiohead Successfully Redefines Music Sales

This proves that if you have great creative, it will sell. That's how you build a brand.

Simple.

Radiohead kicked off a trend last year when it released “In Rainbows” at pay-what-you-wish pricing, but whether the initiative gleaned more than just goodwill wasn’t clear. Until now.

This week, Warner Chappell said that people purchased 1.75 million hard copies of “In Rainbows,” making the album more successful than either of the group’s previous two releases. The 2003 “Hail to the Thief” sold 990,000 copies, while 2001’s “Amnesiac” sold 900,000.

One hundred thousand of the “In Rainbows” sales were for $80 deluxe box-set editions that also included vinyl records, photos and other art and a hardback book.