Radiohead's In Rainbows: Illegal Downloads Surpass Legal

Illegal downloads of Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ are set to overtake legitimate downloads, according to an internet tracking site.

Los Angeles company Big Champagne tracks the number of illegal downloads on the net and claims that Radiohead’s opus is being downloaded at the rate of 100,000 a day. 240,000 illegal downloads were made on the first day alone.

Despite now selling well in excess of 1.2million copies legally on the Radiohead website, Big Champagne chief executive Eric Garland believes this number will be easily surpassed by illicit downloads.

He told Forbes: "People don't know Radiohead's site. They do know their favorite BitTorrent site and they use it every day. It's quite simply easier for folks to get the illegal version than the legal version."

Garland continued that, like any big release, the illegal downloading was inevitable: "Albums that are popular in retail are popular among pirates. In the big picture, if people want something, some will pay, and others will find a way to take it for free."