Radiohead sold 1.2 million ‘In Rainbows’?

The response to Radiohead’s digital release of new album ‘In Rainbows’ has been overwhelming. InRainbows.com had dificulties loading, while quite a number of people were still waiting to get their 10 tracks. Makes you wonder how many copies were actually sold.

The band and their long-term management company Courtyard Management have remained tight lipped about the exact sales figures, seemingly in a bid to add a mysterious air around the album.

But Gigwise talked to a source close to the band last night, and discovered that Radiohead have achieved the monumental sales figure of 1.2 million. Even if every person who downloaded the album paid just 10 pence, the band will still rake in a massive £120,000. That figure is likely to be higher, with many speculating the average figure will even out at around the £1 mark.

With growing media hype around the release of ‘In Rainbows’, these unprecedented sales figures look certain to keep on rising. If they finally announce a world tour, audience figures are expected to be higher too. The band will cash in again when the payments clear for the ‘In Rainbows’ box set which are on sale for £40 a go. As expected, Radiohead are the clear victors of this radical way of releasing their album.

For the download version of the album, all rights — musical work and sound recording — are vested with the band, a spokesperson for the U.K.’s collecting society MCPS-PRS Alliance explained to Billboard.com.

“No one is being bypassed. Rather the band, in cooperation with us, have created their own model of direct licensing for online,” says the spokesperson. The arrangements do not apply for the physical release — details for which have yet to be disclosed — or for broadcasting, which are being licensed under standard agreements with the collecting society.

Radiohead’s music publisher for the past 15 years, Warner/Chappell, stipulates that “all necessary licenses will be in place to allow proper payment of publishing royalties on both physical and digital sales of ‘In Rainbows.’”

Radiohead news on this day..

• Tonight: Radiohead’s Boiler Room Takeover – Webcast set times – 2011
• Listen to Thom Yorke – ‘Hearing Damage’ [new moon] – 2009
• Easy All Stars take Radiodread to Europe – 2008
• Another normal day in the world of Radioheadski – 2005
• Radiohead on Ricky Gervais’s iPod – 2005
• TMGLMOAT DVD now available for pre-order – 2004
• Vote Radiohead into 90′s hall of fame – 2004
• JAPANESE DVD RELEASES – 2003
• RADIOHEAD’S 2ND SHOW AT THE GARDEN – 2003
• Noel Gallagher on Radiohead again – 2002