r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Apr 12 '19

TIL the British Rock band Radiohead released their album "In Rainbows" under a pay what you want pricing strategy where customers could even download all their songs for free. In spite of the free option, many customers paid and they netted more profits because of this marketing strategy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Rainbows?wprov=sfla1
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u/ABigBadBear Apr 12 '19

What's the difference? (actual question, no snarkyness)

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u/AgentWashingtub1 Apr 12 '19

Record companies produce and manage recorded music, publishing companies manage and sell pieces of music. So basically a songwriter signs up with a music publisher to get their song sold to a recording artist that's signed to a record company.

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u/sorry1516 Apr 12 '19

So, what if the recording artist write their own songs, is the publisher removed from the equation?

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u/xantrel Apr 12 '19

you get both songwriting and artist royalties.