It was recently reported that Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke was the most legally downloaded artist of 2014, with his latest solo effort Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes taking the top spot. The album, which Yorke collaborated on with long-time friend/co-conspirator/producer Nigel Godrich, was released via BitTorrent Bundles this past September, and downloaded over one million times within six days of its release.
Some stories are saying that Yorke could very well have made $20 million off this creative method of releasing one’s music. However, that number very likely is an over-exaggerated/best-case-scenario of what he actually made.
BitTorrent Bundles allows artists to combine free downloads with paid products. According to the reports (via Gigoam), Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes was downloaded 4.4 million times. At the asking price of $6 per download of the album, you are looking at upwards of $26 million. That is IF everyone (and that’s a big IF) that downloaded the album actually paid for it.
But let’s take a realistic look at some numbers that Billboard put together:
“One reasonable estimate comes from the fraction of Pandora listeners that pay for what is a free service: 4.3% (3.3 million subscribers out of 76.5 million monthly listeners). That works out to 189,800 buyers (4.3% of 4.4 million) and revenue of $1.02 million (189,900 times 90%, Yorke’s take of BitTorrent sales, of the $6 sale price).“
That article goes on to look at an even more successful ratio of 25% paying for the album (which isn’t completely far-fetched). At that number, Yorke would have raked in $5.9 million in paid revenue. When all is said and done, it’s not a bad pay day considering the state of the record industry these days. The only way most artists make money these days is by constant touring, NOT record sales.
Godrich and Yorke released a co-authored statement about the decision to release the album through BitTorrent Bundles: “It’s an experiment to see if the mechanics of the system are something that the general public can get its head around. If it works well it could be an effective way of handing some control of internet commerce back to people who are creating the work.”
In other related news Yorke recently released a brand new single via Bandcamp, titled “Youwouldn’tlikemewheni’mangry.” Take a listen here.