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10 million is a small drop in the bucket, but good numbers of an album that is getting little or no airplay and hasn't really been talked about since the big download day.
Kane, the actual costs to produce the record were borne by the artists themselves. The cost of the website, the downloads, the processing... all against that 10 million. I am suspecting that all done that they might net half of that. It sounds good, but you have to consider their history. Albums such as Kid A (went to #1 on billboard) sold many times more copies than that, and most importantly, continue to sell today and make the band money. The true money in music sales isn't a 10 second money shot, but a long term continued grind. How much money do you think that the guys form the Rolling Stones or the remaining Beatles make each year on residual income from album and song sales, income from over the air use, etc? That is where the true millions are made.
Many artists have come and gone, made a big splash with a platinum album, and dissappeared, only to turn up pumping gas or turning tricks to make ends meet.
Radiohead is in the very lucky position to have a long cultivated fan base (courtesy in part by the work done by people at their past record labels) that are willing to buy a record from the band with no real buzz, no media support, no radio airplay, and no real marketing. I am sure there are 20 other bands that live in the same area as them that can't get 20 punters into a pub on a saturday night to hear them play. Without the marketing, they never will make more than beer money.
It's easy for top acts to kick the record companies to the curb. But music is going to get very boring very quickly if there are no new acts and no new music (records and styles) coming into the marketplace.
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