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The article “Pay What You Want For This Article,” written by Jon Pareles highlights many bands that have gone independent without the record label and made a large profit off self-releasing their own music. The featured band, Radiohead released their record In Rainbows, allowing their fans to decide how much they want to pay for the record even if it was nothing. The result was a highly successful and well-regarded album that sold over 1 million copies and made 10 million dollars in the first week of release. The average made per album was $9.10 even with people are not paying for the record. $9.10 is about half the normal price made on a record sold in the store. The money that Radiohead made is majority profit and none of it will go towards a record label. “Radiohead has put in motion the most audacious experiment in years” (Pareles) which has turned out to be quite successful for the band. Other artists such as Madonna, and The Eagles have dropped major labels and pushed the Internet market, which has become the new way to obtain music. Prince has recently signed one record deal with labels and even gave away records during his tour through a promotion with Ticketmaster. Other artists such as Public Enemy and The Smashing Pumpkins have given away music online to promote their album and name. Furthermore, the Internet has helped Radiohead’s album reach people in Afghanistan. The model for releasing music has been challenged by Radiohead and other artists to change the model normally used.
Other articles used for summary... http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22572868-2,00.html
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/radiohead_make_10_million_from_in_rainbows.html