Andre Yoskowitz
5 Aug 2008 18:43
According to a report from the P2P monitor Big Champagne and the UK’s MCPS-PRS royalty collector, Radiohead's latest album was downloaded by 2.3 million people via BitTorrent and P2P, for the two month period that it was available, legally and for free from Radiohead's website.
The huge number "far exceeds what outsiders have reported as the estimated download total from the bands official website, regardless of whether those downloaders paid or not”.
The report leads to more interesting questions, like why would users choose illegal free over a free, legal alternative. Big Champagne CEO Eric Garland says perhaps users were already downloading from P2P and could not be bothered to head to the legal site to download from there. There is also the chance that not to many people heard the news of the free release.
Even they believe that is wishful thinking however. The report says the real reason is instead that users have become so accustomed to P2P and BitTorrent that it appeals to them even more then a legal alternative. Illegal is "now entrenched" and the labels and business will face an uphill battle to change these habits.
There is also, the case of Nine Inch Nails. Their free release of "The Slip" had much higher downloads from NIN.com than from torrents. In the US and the UK, Radiohead's "In Rainbows" also reached #1 in physical media sales. Could really just be preference and marketing.