Radiohead wins free online music race

Radiohead has come out on top of the heap among several bands releasing singles or albums free online over the past year, according to Hitwise.

Radiohead was the first to try the online strategy when it made its In Rainbows album available online last year for whatever price fans were willing to pay.

Since then industrial noise band Nine Inch Nails has got on board by releasing its Ghosts I-IV and The Slip albums free online, and then last week Coldplay released it’s new single Violet Hill free online.

In each case, Hitwise says, the bands’ websites have enjoyed a big spike in traffic, but so far Radiohead’s release has had the biggest splash. Radiohead attracted just over 0.0015% of US web traffic to its site when it released In Rainbows, almost double both Coldplay and Nine Inch Nails on about 0.0007% each.

The online strategy appears to be paying for Radiohead from a marketing perspective; when In Rainbows was released Radiohead’s site moved into the top 100 of Hitwise’s bands and artists category for the first time and has stayed there ever since.