Thursday, October 11, 2007

An Interesting Social Experiment



The British Rock Band, Radiohead has been the buzz of the music world lately. They are selling their new album, "In Rainbows" without a fixed sales price. Music lovers can simply go to their website and download the album. At check-out, instead of a price to download, it says, "it's up to you". The fans can choose how much they want to pay.

SIMPLY BRILLIANT!

Fans determine the price of music anyway ... if it is too expensive they won't buy it. Of course, about a third of the people that downloaded the album chose to pay nothing ... but it's not as if these deadbeats were going to buy the album anyway. What this experiment does is it gets people talking about the band and really pumps up concert numbers. It also brings in people who might not ever think about downloading a Radiohead album into the mix. These new listeners might just buy more albums and go to concerts. Okay ... confession time here, I am one of the new listeners. When I got to the check-out, I couldn't just put zero in the price ... so I paid $20.00 for the download. So, that is at least twenty bucks they wouldn't have gotten without this promotion. It will be interesting to see how this works out.

Sphere: Related Content

15 comments:

Jackie said...

Interesting experiment! I'll bet this is a complete surprise to you(lol) but I'm NOT in to downloading music, free or otherwise. If it's something I like/want, I'll go to a music store and pay any price for a CD or buy CD's on-line.

I'm glad to read that you think it was worth $20! There will be many people who enter a big, fat ZERO for the download.

But I have to agree, this plan sounds like a winner!

Keshi said...

wow how nice of em! u put $20? they r worth it mate!

Keshi.

Superstar said...

artist don't make any money from CD's...they make it from the tours and the royalities...CD's are for the Managers and Producers to make money...cuting out the middle man is really and truely a FAB idea!

Mike Minzes said...

From the consumer standpoint, it seems pretty cool they will let you chose to pay for a download. From a business standpoint (and lets be real here, they are all in it for the money) it makes for bad business. I suspect there is a motive behind this that people are unaware of.

Anyway, the choice is up to the consumer and I will tell you, honest consuming died long ago.

Anonymous said...

Good experiment

It is a good experiment! Now lets get ready for the million of copy cat types! Have a fine TEXAS day.

cfs

Paul Champagne said...

inspired ... since it is a download, there is actually no extra cost (like making the CD, packaging etc), the people who put the big fat zero probably were too cheap to buy it anyway. Production expenses will be paid by the "real" consumers that realize that if downloading the music is worth their time ... it is obviously worth some money.

keshi ... I don't particularly care for the music (though there is one track I am definitely keeping in my IPod). I paid the $20.00 because I realize the creative investment and production costs warrant a fair price.

bambi ... plus, this really makes the consumer think about what the value of music is. I think you might agree that when someone is feeling down, music can lift their spirits ... and what's the value of that?

mike ... six months ago I might have agreed with you about honest consumers. But then I went from selling Chevrolets, to selling GMC's ... and I can tell you that consumers are willing to pay more for a product if you can show the value. Though there are some people out there that will be dishonest in their dealings, the majority of people I have worked with just want to pay a fair price for value given.

Paul Champagne said...

tlrb ... the copy cats are waiting to see the results before they jump in ... meanwhile the fruits will go to those with the courage to be different.

Anonymous said...

I heard this yesterday. They may be on to something. I would much rather volunteer payment. I think it may average out for them.

Anonymous said...

what a strange band name and music!!
i watched their videos on youtube. look cool!

Mike Minzes said...

Paul, comparing car sales to music sales is apples and oranges. The music industry makes twice what the car industry does in terms of net profit. The music industry wants more money. This social experiment is really a protest of sorts. The producers of the CD (the music industry) refused to allow certain music to appear in the consumer CD. The band got mad and went independant, but they are under contract not to sell it. So they left it up to the consumer to choose. They are trying to prove a point to a multi-billion dollar industry. One they are going to loose.

If this actually worked, the music industry would have taken it over and turned a profit already.

WomanHonorThyself said...

thanks for the heads up dude~!..Have a great weekend!

Paul Champagne said...

debbie ... I heard it was averaging out to about $20.00 a download (of the folks that were actually paying).

niki ... it is indeed strange, but it has a beat.

mike ... priceline experimented with a name your own price for cars a while back. Needless to say, the offers were ridiculus for the most part. Most were $3-5K below dealership cost ... the program didn't last long.

angel ... have a great weekend yourself.

Terri@SteelMagnolia said...

I do like downloading my favorite songs from Itunes...
that way I only hear the songs I love!

snowelf said...

I love Radiohead. They are awesome and what a fantastic idea--especially for a band that's already established!!
I wonder how many other bands will jump on this idea.

--snow

Anonymous said...

2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WEEKLY POLL

http://www.votenic.com

Results Posted Tuesday Evening.
FREE, NON-BIASED