Radiohead and Trent Reznor - download results

So after the name-your-price download experiement Radiohead have now offf the back of a traditional relase secured the number 1 album slot. It appears the album, In Rainbows, is likely to chart within the top 5 in the United States, and has already grabbed a second-place slot in Australia.

So maybe a happy ending? The experiment got mixed results and by not releasing sales figures Radionhead invited some sceptiscism. In fact comCore produced a report which showed a low percentage of paying fans which was denied by the band. However the increase in publicity sureley didn't harm this weeks chart entry.

Well done boys for being so brave and breaking the mould! Howver, word of caution to other bands who may not be so lucky with the Trent Reznor project yielding mixed results.

Reznor recently produced an album for poet and musician Saul Williams, and the pair opted to release the project online using the name-your-price model pioneered by Radiohead.

But like the Radiohead project, paying fans were in the minority with 18.3 percent of fans opting to pay the $5 asking price, a total that mirrors Radiohead results estimates. 154,449 downloaded the Williams release, which was offered in a lower quality for non-paying fans.

So is that disappointing? Reznor doesn't think so, "Keep in mind not one cent was spent on marketing this record". On the flip side, Reznor admittedly incurred heavy production and licensing costs. A back-of-the-envelope calculation yields revenues of roughly $141,610, though resulting profits were not disclosed. The album, titled The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust, was first released in late October.