Amazingly, many people chose to pay nothing for the new Radiohead album, rather than pay something.
I don’t think any economist could have seen that coming.
Amazingly, many people chose to pay nothing for the new Radiohead album, rather than pay something.
I don’t think any economist could have seen that coming.
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12 November 2007 at 11:34 pm
It’s interesting – what’s hard to determine is how many of the free downloads were done by people who would in any case have copied a friend’s CD or downloaded from Limewire (i.e. wouldn’t have been part of the paying public anyway). It’s possible that those that paid may end up being a similar figure to those that would have bought.
13 November 2007 at 12:11 am
This is why I’m very much for file sharing. People who download probably wouldn’t have paid anyway (I think), but they do get the album into the hands of others.
And many many times I’ve bought the entire backcatalogue of bands I’ve downloaded one song from. Wouldn’t have happened if I couldn’t have heard how great the song was.
13 November 2007 at 12:55 am
I’m one of those people who have never bought myself a CD, and never intend to. I don’t feel guilty downloading music because I wouldn’t have paid for it anyway.
But I think music sharing is in the interests of the artists in many cases. I’ve spent more on Muse tickets and merch than I would have on buying their albums. And I never would have gone to the concerts if I hadn’t stolen the music from my brother in the first place.
13 November 2007 at 4:51 am
Yeah, I’m much more likely to actually get out of the house and buy the album (Or go on ebay) if I’ve heard the song on the net, for free, and liked it.
I think it’s a fantastic idea to get to choose. Because some of the people who pay, even a little, might have paid nothing if they weren’t given the option.
14 November 2007 at 11:41 pm
Radiohead was smart to make the download at a lower quality (128k?) than a CD. So some fans will buy a CD later as well to get the quality sound, Radiohead is a headphone band. There are also the fanatical fans (of which I’m teetering on the precipice) who will buy the download, and the special box and recoup part of the increased bandwidth they needed to accomodate the freeloaders. They made $7,000,000 the first week! As a friend who has a popular band in Perth has opined, this will only have an affect on the way already well-greased bands distribute, they can afford to cast off The Man. Smaller bands will need biz distribution for a long time coming. The expansion of the direct to consumer market though will create a need for an in-between level of content carriers who can provide the services the musicians need to get off the ground without doing all the hard work from the ground up, when this eventually becomes solvent, you’ll be right back to the Record Company philosophy where only bands who can provide guaranteed sales will get the premium distribution and marketing.
19 November 2007 at 10:24 pm
Off topic but have you heard Whitley? New album called submarine. If so what think ye?