Pay what you want and download (Radiohead)

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Pay what you want and download (Radiohead)

Postby Lyrs » Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:58 am

So you could pay $0.00 and download it. Or you could pay $50 or $100, etc. It seems like a good idea to me. Offer a paypal, google checkout option, easy to find/fill check/credit form, and people might just pay or check it out on principle.

What do you guys think? Will this revision of the music economy be successful?
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Postby Bote » Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:02 am

Heh heh. Neat. Only hardcore fans would really pay. 90% of all others are gonna leech like always. It's a good way to attract real devotees. I'd pay 50$ for Maiden's or Tool's songs. :up:
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Postby Otohiko » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:27 pm

I'd wait and see. I think this can and should potentially work.

Besides, even if the average buyer pays a lot less than they would for a CD, the band might actually end up making more due to the ridiculous overpricing that major labels tend to do.

I'm positive.
(Ironically, yesterday I made my first online music purchases from a no less, if not more progressive independent artist - left with 11 hours of music (7 of them in quality freebies) after paying just $30)
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Postby Emong » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:28 pm

wow_!
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Postby Otohiko » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:36 pm

PS - I'm considering it, and I personally would pay what I think an album should actually cost - between $7 - $9.
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Postby Lyrs » Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:15 pm

http://techdirt.com/articles/20070930/214524.shtml

radiohead's site is freaking slow at the moment from digg, slashdot, and other networks, but here's an article with more information. you get other merchandise too, it seems, or rather you buy the merchandise if you like the songs.
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Postby Corran » Sat Oct 06, 2007 10:24 am

Magnatunes has been using a pay what you want approach for quite some time now. Nice to see a major act in the position and willingness to use a similar business model. Giving away albums for free like Radiohead isn't really going to work well for new and obscure groups though...

It'd be awesome if Radiohead and Magnatune combined forces...
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Postby Farlo » Sat Oct 06, 2007 11:18 pm

i wish more bands released albums on their own, especially online. i hate paying for music when i know its just gonna go to the label people with a small fraction going to the band.
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Postby nailz » Sun Oct 07, 2007 7:17 pm

Farlo wrote:i wish more bands released albums on their own, especially online. i hate paying for music when i know its just gonna go to the label people with a small fraction going to the band.


thats why i always try to buy directly from the band when possible. it may cost me a little more, but it makes me feel better.
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Postby Otohiko » Sun Oct 07, 2007 7:44 pm

nailz wrote:
Farlo wrote:i wish more bands released albums on their own, especially online. i hate paying for music when i know its just gonna go to the label people with a small fraction going to the band.


thats why i always try to buy directly from the band when possible. it may cost me a little more, but it makes me feel better.


Totally. In fact as of this month, I've altered my music-buying policy to strongly favour independent online download or order sites. Already spent well over $100 on that, and quite happy over it.
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Postby Lyrs » Sat Oct 20, 2007 10:04 pm

The idea seems to be a success. If I remember correctly, the In Rainbows averaged $5 per album with over 1.2 million albums sold on opening day. This doesn't take into account the merchandise packs.

I've read articles declaring the album also made a large splash in the pirate communities with an equivalent number of albums being downloading. A few articles have pointed towards twice as many pirated albums as albums sold.

Regardless, $6 million dollars is quite amazing.
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Postby deathdrone » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:58 am

Trent Reznor of N.I.N dropped his label, and is doing something similar. He says that he plans to sell full albums worth of mp3's in the future for four dollars at any bit-rate the person wishes. Oh, and that actual cd's will be available as well, and people will have the option to buy those too. For what price? I am not sure yet.
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Postby bobbias » Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:36 pm

Trent has teamed up with Saul Williams and released a CD of Saul's. Anyone who likes hip-hop or the gritty NIN-esque sound of Saul should definitely check it out: http://niggytardust.com/saulwilliams/downloadinfo

You will first be asked to enter your e-mail address.

If you choose to pay for the record, your download will be available in the following formats:

* 192Kbps MP3
* 320Kbps MP3
* FLAC lossless audio

If you choose not to pay for the record, you will receive it in 192Kbps MP3 format.

All versions include a PDF with artwork and lyrics

All files are 100% DRM free, and can be played on any device. MP3s are encoded with LAME v3.97 and love.
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Postby TaranT » Sun Dec 30, 2007 4:21 am

David Byrne (ex-Talking Heads) interviews Thom Yorke (Radiohead)
re: the "experiment" and the music biz in general.

Byrne: What about bands that are just getting started?
Yorke: Well, first and foremost, you don't sign a huge record contract that strips you of all your digital rights, so that when you do sell something on iTunes you get absolutely zero. That would be the first priority. If you're an emerging artist, it must be frightening at the moment. Then again, I don't see a downside at all to big record companies not having access to new artists, because they have no idea what to do with them now anyway.
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Postby Otohiko » Sun Dec 30, 2007 3:06 pm

TaranT wrote:David Byrne (ex-Talking Heads) interviews Thom Yorke (Radiohead)
re: the "experiment" and the music biz in general.

Byrne: What about bands that are just getting started?
Yorke: Well, first and foremost, you don't sign a huge record contract that strips you of all your digital rights, so that when you do sell something on iTunes you get absolutely zero. That would be the first priority. If you're an emerging artist, it must be frightening at the moment. Then again, I don't see a downside at all to big record companies not having access to new artists, because they have no idea what to do with them now anyway.


Byrne wrote a really good article generally on Wired recently as well...

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/musi ... tPage=all#


As for Yorke and this Radiohead experiment, I'm actually getting slightly negative - not because it's a bad thing, but because discussion of alternative music distribution has gotten too focused on this model as some sort of holy grail.

As my father, a professional musician who himself distributes largely online has pointed out, that response by Yorke actually does dick to address the real problem for "new artists" or small artists. The assumption that an artist who doesn't have the pop value of Radiohead can survive in their niche using Radiohead's distribution model is pretty ridiculous. Being off a major label doesn't solve the problem of distribution, in some ways it exacerbates it.

The fact is that Radiohead can afford to risk not making much money on sales of the album. Because there will always be huge demand for them to perform live, and they can always make it up if they fail on one or other project. Smaller musicians don't have that luxury and that friendly a market.

The experiment is a success for promoting Radiohead and probably for general strategies for first-tier artists. But I'm starting to think it may actually hurt smaller, more niche artists in the long run if it continues to be the focus of the whole alternative distribution discussion.
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