Radiohead Finds Sales, Even After Downloads

By JEFF LEEDS

LOS ANGELES — In a twist for the music industry’s digital revolution, “In Rainbows,” the new Radiohead album that attracted wide attention when it was made available three months ago as a digital download for whatever price fans chose to pay, ranked as the top-selling album in the country this week after the CD version hit record shops and other retailers.
The album, the first in four years from the closely watched British rock act, sold 122,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That represents a mixed result for the band. It’s a sharp drop compared with the debut of Radiohead’s previous album, 2003’s “Hail to the Thief,” but it’s far from a flop, considering the steep decline in music sales in the last four years and the typically weak sales in the post-Christmas period. “Thief” sold about 300,000 in its first week in 2003.

In any case the figures challenge the conventional wisdom that music fans no longer have an affinity for plastic. The sales of the album, which also snagged the top spot on the British weekly music chart, came despite the fact that “In Rainbows” — in the form of digital files — had been acquired by many fans after the band offered it in an unconventional pay-what-you-want offering through a Web site, inrainbows.com. The album was released on plastic CDs and vinyl LPs on Jan. 1, with the CD priced at $13.98, though it could be found for as little as $7.99 at outlets like Amazon.com.

Some retailers viewed the Radiohead figures as a sign of the continuing market for so-called physical products in the music business, where the popularity of iTunes, music blogs and other sites have made the digital file appear to be the coin of the realm. In particular they said even fans who received the digital files distributed by Radiohead may have decided to pay for the better audio quality versions on CD or LP.

“Having a physical, archival high-fidelity master recording that you can side-load into your MP3 player of choice for a similar price is significantly better than just purchasing zeros and ones,” said Eric Levin, owner of the independent record shop Criminal Records in Atlanta and founder of an 18-member alliance of independent retailers. “I feel like that’s what 75 percent of the people are saying.”

Mr. Levin said that at his store vinyl copies of “In Rainbows” outsold the CD by a wide margin. Demand for the album was such that some record shops put it on sale before the label’s planned “street date,” resulting in sales of about 9,000 copies the previous week.

But sales of the plastic and vinyl versions of the album also received a boost from digital services like iTunes, where the album sold about 28,000 copies. The iTunes service, which sells individual songs for 99 cents and albums typically for $9.99, had not carried any of the band’s previous albums, owing in part to Radiohead’s demand that its recordings be sold only as complete works.

But Bryce Edge, one of Radiohead’s managers, said the band decided to sell “In Rainbows” on iTunes because it expects that EMI, the British music giant that released the band’s first six albums, will soon post them for sale on the service, and it would be strange for the new album to be excluded. An EMI representative declined to comment.

The decision to release the music as a digital file so far in advance of the CD also allowed time for the music to circulate on free, unlicensed file-swapping networks. Big Champagne, a tracking service that studies file-sharing, estimates that the album was downloaded more than 100,000 times on free networks in the first 24 hours after Radiohead delivered it to fans who had preordered it from its Web site. But Eric Garland, chief executive of Big Champagne, said that by offering the music for as little as zero from their own site, Radiohead “stole market share” from pirate networks.

Mr. Edge said that sales of 100,000 copies of the album this week would be “almost certainly less than the number we would have achieved if we hadn’t” offered it as a digital download. But the band still came out ahead, he said, in part because it attracted so many fans to Radiohead’s Web site, where it collected e-mail addresses from fans looking to acquire the album.

The band has not said how many copies it distributed. Now that the CD is in shops, some fans who paid for the initial downloads may have been tempted to buy the album, in effect, for a second time. But Steve Gottlieb, chief of the independent label TVT Records, said he believed the sales mainly reflected fans who were acquiring the music for the first time.

“Radiohead is one of those really big groups that appeals to people outside the intensely pirating demographic of 16 to 29,” he said. “To the extent Radiohead still has a significant audience in its 30s and 40s, there’s a bigger audience of those people who will still pick up something at Best Buy or don’t want to bother with figuring out how to go to a Radiohead Web site and track it down.”

Still, Mr. Gottlieb said, the sales suggested that the band’s name-your-price offering, and fans’ subsequent free sharing of files, had taken a toll. “Clearly we can’t give it all away and expect to sell CDs,” he said.

But Radiohead will have yet more opportunities to gain fans. The band said yesterday that it planned to perform in more than 20 North American cities this year.

Avenged Sevenfold - A Little Piece Of Heaven Lyrics

Before the story begins, is it such a sin,
for me to take what's mine, until the end of time
We were more than friends, before the story ends,
And I will take what's mine, create what
God would never design

Our love had been so strong for far too long,
I was weak with fear that
something would go wrong,
before the possibilities came true,
I took all possibility from you
Almost laughed myself to tears,
conjuring her deepest fears

Must have stabbed her fifty fucking times,
I can't believe it,
Ripped her heart out right before her eyes,
Eyes over easy, eat it eat it eat it

She was never this good in bed
even when she was sleepin'
now she's just so perfect I've
never been quite so fucking deep in
it goes on and on and on,
I can keep you lookin' young and preserved forever,
with a fountain to spray on your youth whenever

’Cause I really always knew that my little crime
would be cold that's why I got a heater for your thighs
and I know, I know it's not your time
but bye, bye
and a word to the wise when the fire dies
you think it's over but it's just begun
but baby don't cry

You had my heart, at least for the most part
’cause everybody's gotta die sometime, we fell apart
let's make a new start
’cause everybody's gotta die sometime yeah
but baby don't cry

Now possibilities I'd never considered,
are occurring the likes of which I'd never heard,
Now an angry soul comes back from beyond the grave,
to repossess a body with which I'd misbehaved

Smiling right from ear to ear
Almost laughed herself to tears

Must have stabbed him fifty fucking times
I can't believe it
Ripped his heart out right before his eyes
Eyes over easy
Eat it eat it eat it

Now that it's done I realize the error of my ways
I must venture back to apologize from somewhere far beyond the grave

I gotta make up for what I've done
’Cause I was all up in a piece of heaven
while you burned in hell, no peace forever

’Cause I really always knew that my little crime
would be cold that's why I got a heater for your thighs
and I know, I know it's not your time
but bye, bye
and a word to the wise when the fire dies
you think it's over but it's just begun
but baby don't cry

You had my heart, at least for the most part
’Cause everybody's gotta die sometime, we fell apart
Let’s make a new start
’Cause everybody's gotta die sometime yeah
But baby don't cry

I will suffer for so long
(What will you do, not long enough)
To make it up to you
(I pray to God that you do)
I'll do whatever you want me to do
(Well then I’ll break you unchained)
And if it's not enough
(If it’s not enough, If it’s not enough)
If it's not enough
(Not enough)
Try again
(Try again)
And again
(And again)
Over and over again

We’re coming back, coming back
We’ll live forever, live forever
Let’s have wedding, have a wedding
Let’s start the killing, start the killing

’Cause I really always knew that my little crime
would be cold that's why I got a heater for your thighs
and I know, I know it's not your time
but bye, bye
And a word to the wise when the fire dies
you think it's over but it's just begun
but baby don't cry

You had my heart, at least for the most part
’Cause everybody's gotta die sometime, we fell apart
Let’s make a new start
’Cause everybody's gotta die sometime yeah
But baby don't cry

ONSTAGE | SHOWBOX SODO: Avenged Sevenfold Branches Out on New CD

By Alan Sculley

Over the years, Avenged Sevenfold has made almost as much of a name for itself for having a hard-partying lifestyle — particularly on tour — as with its music.

It's an image the band's bassist, Johnny Christ, doesn't deny. But he will try to put it in perspective.

"In the past there's been a lot of talk about that, and the bottom line is we're five best friends," Christ said in a late October phone interview. "We all grew up together and we all live within a block radius of each other pretty much. When you take five best friends in their 20s and take them across the world, we're going to have fun."

That noted, Christ said fans should know that Avenged Sevenfold has its priorities together.

"We know when to have fun and when not to have fun," he said. "We're very, very, very disciplined about our shows. We don't want to cheat the fans. If we were out there doing what a lot of those magazines said, we would have a lot of upset fans, put it that way."

The band's work ethic was more than evident during the making of its newly released eponymous CD. The project found the members of Avenged Sevenfold — Christ (John Stewart), singer M. Shadows (Matt Sanders), guitarist Synyster Gates (Brian Haner), guitarist Zacky Vengeance (Zach Baker) and drummer the Rev (short for Reverend Tholomew Plague, alter ego of Jimmy Sullivan) — buckling down first of all for an intensive stretch of songwriting.

"The writing process for us was about eight or nine months," Christ said. "It was 14-hour days, six days, sometime seven (days a week)."

Then when it came to the actual recording of "Avenged Sevenfold," the group chose to self-produce the CD, adding a major layer of work that wouldn't have existed had the group brought in an outside producer.

Christ said the band had several objectives for the CD, including a very direct sonic approach to the recording.

"We definitely had a clear vision of a very raw, but big sounding record," Christ said. "We wanted to very much to (reflect) how we play live."

The band also wanted to be free to branch out stylistically, and if it was appropriate for a particular song, explore musical styles that might not be associated with the band. This sort of thinking culminated, first of all, in a pair of songs, "Dear God" and "Gunslinger," that have a distinct country influence.

"We had things that sort of bordered on doing that on 'City Of Evil,' but we never took a full song and made it country," Christ said.

With the song "A Little Piece Of Heaven," Avenged Sevenfold went even further out on a stylistic limb. Teaming up to create string, horn and choir arrangements with Steve Bartek (formerly of Oingo Boingo) and Marc Mann, the band created a multi-faceted track with a theatrical flair that is in turn whimsical and slightly sinister.

"We were so proud and had so much fun writing that song, we just had to put it on the record," Christ said.

"A Little Piece Of Heaven," "Dear God" and "Gunslinger" almost certainly will surprise fans that have followed Avenged Sevenfold since it formed in 1999.

The first two Avenged Sevenfold CDs, "Sounding the Seventh Trumpet" (2001) and "Waking the Fallen" (2003) put the band at the forefront of the emerging metalcore/screamo scenes. But on their third CD, the 2005 release, "City Of Evil," the band ditched the screaming vocals and emphasized its heavy metal and melodic influences.

The move could have alienated Avenged Sevenfold's audience, but instead the CD connected with the rock audience. The album produced a top five rock radio hit, "Bat Country," and the CD itself topped 500,000 copies sold in the United States.

The "Avenged Sevenfold" CD figures to further distance the group from the screamo-metalcore scenes. Aside from the stylistic side trips of "A Little Piece Of Heaven," "Dear God" and "Gunslinger," most the new album continues to mine the melodic metal territory of "City Of Evil," only with a heavier accent.

"We feel this is our breakthrough record right now," Christ said. "It's essentially why we wanted to self-title this record. We felt this is very much the pure form of Avenged Sevenfold and this is who we are now."

Because the band had an eye toward trying to capture more of its live sound on the self-titled album, it's no surprise that Christ said the new material translates well in concert. And for its first run of tour dates in support of "Avenged Sevenfold," the group is putting the focus squarely on the music by scaling back on the visual production of its shows.

"We're just kind of kicking it off and playing these clubs and smaller theaters across the states," he said. "We really just wanted to kick off the start of this record with smaller shows and more intimate shows for the fans and stuff."

Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu Set For Taste Of Chaos

Mitchell Peters, L.A.

The 2008 Rockstar Taste of Chaos festival tour will feature performances by Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, Bullet For My Valentine, Blessthefall and Idiot Pilot, along with sets by Japanese rock bands D'espairsRay, Mucc and the Underneath.

The fourth edition of the 43-city North American tour begins Feb. 29 at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, and runs through March 15 at the WaMu Center in Seattle. At deadline, only U.S. tour dates had been released, with Canadian dates to follow in January. No other acts were expected to join the bill.

Tickets go on pre-sale Jan. 5 via rockstartasteofchaos.com. The national on-sale begins Jan. 12, with an average ticket price of approximately $29.

Sponsors for the 2008 Rockstar Taste of Chaos include Hurley, Hard Rock Cafe, Hot Topic, Vans, Music Saves Lives, MySpace and Alternative Press, among others.

T

he 2007 edition of Rockstar Taste of Chaos featured a slew of rock acts including the Used, Senses Fail, 30 Seconds To Mars, Saosin, Chiodos, Aiden and Evaline. The festival jaunt, organized by Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, played more than 130 dates worldwide, including 40-plus cities in North America.