Yes, it might have been a crazy gambit for the average rock band, but Radiohead are a different breed, and their tech-savvy and appreciative fans repaid the band's faith in them by shelling out a reported average of ?4 per download, of which there are thought to have been more than a million on the day of the album's debut alone. And after all that, the band decided to have their cake and eat it too by putting a physical version of the album in stores on New Year's Day, allowing their less wired fans their own chance to purchase it (not to mention giving wired diehards an opportunity to get their hands on artwork and liner notes they might've missed with the digital version).
So, how do a band whose marketing savvy seems almost a match for their musical genius promote the "physical manifestation" of their latest masterwork? Why, by marketing it some more via the very medium that's already put the digital version in the ears of millions.
"Jigsaw falling into place..."
The latest piece of the puzzle, a video feature on YouTube, fits perfectly with the digital release. Of course, a little YouTube teaser might seem like a no-brainer, but whereas the typical act simply puts up a clip of their latest three- or four-minute video, Thom Yorke and company have gone more than a little bit farther. Though the average contributor must adhere to a 10-minute length limit for each video, Radiohead have managed to convince the folks at the absurdly popular video-sharer to put up Scotch Mist, a 52-minute film featuring every last song on the new album.
Of course, some might cry foul at what seems to be special treatment, but maybe the powers that be at YouTube headquarters are fans, and in any case, it's hard to rain on the band's parade when, once again, they're effectively providing the entire album for free to anyone who wants it.
And besides, who isn't ready for something a little less repetitive than "Chocolate Rain"?
"I've been climbing up this ladder..."
So, will this latest marketing maneuver propel the album to the "toppermost of the poppermost" (as another English rocker used to put it)? It's too soon to tell, and given that a significant percentage of the fans who downloaded the digital version may never bother to buy a corporeal copy, it may never be possible to judge the album's sales accurately by the standard Billboard methodology.
That said, while it would obviously be naïve to suggest that the band don't care how much their records sell, it seems safe to assume that they're not as obsessed as certain recording artists appear to be about their place on the charts. Rather, their marketing and distribution strategy seems to have been driven by two fundamental aims that need not be mutually exclusive: to sell as many copies as possible to fans who are willing and able to pay for them and to make their music as available as possible to anyone who isn't. Given the countless articles that have already been written about the digital release and the hundreds of thousands of views that have already been logged for Scotch Mist in the days since it was posted, it's clear enough that the band have registered another big hit on both of those scores already.
Accordingly, when the music industry looks back on In Rainbows in the years to come, it is likely to be remembered almost as much for its marketing genius as for its luminous spectrum of aural brilliance.
