….didn’t lie a pot of gold for Radiohead’s “pay what you like” strategy. Give them props for trying, but as Digital Music News reported yesterday, 62% of the downloaders of the English progrock band’s seventh album (only available via Radiohead’s website) paid nada for it.
Bubkus.
Zilch.
On the other hand, that means that 38% DID pay something, so the experiment wasn’t a total bust. Average price: (according to ComScore) $6.00. But that’s a little deceptive: Turns out that in the US, the number of purchasers was slightly higher – 40% – and they paid an average of $8.05 for the album download…which means that 36% of the rest of the world paid an average of $4.64!
I think it’s too early to deem this a “success” or “failure” (I pointed out in an earlier post that mainly-classical boutique label Magnatune has been taking this approach for a couple of years now), save for the inescapable truth that the value of a recorded piece of music is being driven ever downward.
AND, I suspect that this is partly psychological, but this situation is exacerbated once the “physical product” is taken away. In other words, when there’s no old-fashined vinyl album, CD, or any other physical manifestation, just what is “it” that you’re holding in your hand?
An iPod or a cell phone, dummy. And they are selling quite handsomely, at a more-than-decent markup. So how do make any money selling music?
Jerry Del Colliano’s Inside Music Media post today puts it this way:
Some 62% of Radiohead’s fans stiffed them at the tip jar.
100% of AT&T’s cell phone customers pay them every time they text message someone.
Is it getting any easier to see the solution?
Music is priced too high. The marketplace is speaking and no one is listening.
Music for the price of a text message — addictive, compulsive and easy to collect.
Now that’s money in the bank.
In my next post: How Radiohead’s former label, EMI, is taking advantage of their Internet buzz….
Roedeo Productions 