Quote:
Originally Posted by RawAlex
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.
|
Sure, longevity is always a good thing in the music business. The Stones haven't really had a hit in decades but they will sell out arenas world wide and both they and The Beatles still sell tons of records every year. It wasn't long ago that they put out an album of nothing but The Beatles number 1 hits and it sold like crazy. However that is not a realistic stick to measure against. Most bands won't make it even with all the marketing in the world.
In this case Radiohead does have to cover the cost of the producing the album and distributing it (via the website). however, they own their own recording studio so that cost is pretty low and bandwidth is pretty cheap. I would venture to guess even if they make half what the expectation is says and they made 3-5 million off this record that is more than they would have made using a major label.
Record companies charge the band for every thing. Say for example Radiohead got $1.50 royalty per CD sold. The record company gives them a 500K advance up front and another 100K for recording costs. They then decided to shoot 2 music videos at 400K each (this is actually pretty cheap in today's market) and they spend another 150K marketing the album to radio. Put 200K on top of that for other marketing (getting the band on shows like Letterman, putting ads in papers stuff like that) and we have a total of 1.75million dollars and the album hasn't even come out yet. If the album sells 2 million copies the band would realize royalties 3million dollars. You have to subtract all the other costs the record company put into it so the band actually gets 1.25 million. They were given 500K in an advance so their total take is 1.75 million. Subtract about 20% for agents and legal fees and that leaves them with around 1.4 million. Not bad, but still less than they probably made selling it online. They also don't have to deal with the shady record label and their creative accounting. There are artists who talk all the time about having their accountants audit the books of record labels and finding tons of money they were never paid.
So up front they make more, but will they over the long run? That is a good question. It looks like they signed a distribution deal to get the CD put in stores. There will be no promotion put behind it other than what the band decides to do so all those fans that want a CD can now go out and buy it.
I have worked in the music business and to me it seems that most bands need to get what they can when they can because they won't be around long enough to collect down the line. The music biz chews up and spits out acts like they are nothing. Take a look at the billboard top lists from 10 years ago. Most of the acts on that list are not around anymore. Most of the acts that are big today will not be around in another 10 years. The music biz, for most, is all about the here and now and what can you do for me today. There are a few acts that make it and hold on and continue to go year after year, but most will not make more than a couple of albums then fade away.
I happen to think that with the changes in the world and the internet now being widely available bands like Radiohead and others can go back to how things were in the 50's, 60's and 70's. You make a good album and you play live as much as you possibly can to cultivate an audience. If you build up a fan base the hard way they will stick with you and you can have the freedom to do things like this. If you don't, ultimately you will be another footnote in history that came and went.
On this board we are always talking about adapting to changes or you will fail. The record companies are in turmoil because of what the internet has done to them. Radiohead has taken a bold step forward into what may be a new business model. I applaud them.
---holy crap, sorry for the super long post---
