Radiohead: Marketing Geniuses?

The band Radiohead shook up the recording industry by making their latest album available for free on their website, instead of selling it in stores.

Actually, they put it online for whatever donation people were willing to give to download it, but as expected, most people downloaded it for free.

This has really shaken up the recording industry which is already reeling from falling CD and other media sales.

There is a school of thought in marketing that says if you stop selling your product for money and start distributing it for free, you will make a killing on back-end sales and upsells, much more so than if you just tried to sell the entry-level product.

Interesting theory ... I think there may be some truth to it, and I'm waiting to see how this plays out in terms of other revenue streams for Radiohead like increased concert ticket sales.