The fact that a music band releases its new album as a digital download two months prior to its traditional hard-copy release didn't strike us by surprise. but the news about Radiohead releasing its new album and enabling its listeners to name their own price for downloading the album via its website, is a huge deal!
"There's no label or distribution partner to cut into the band's profits — but then there may not be any profits. Drop In Rainbows' 15 songs into the on-line checkout basket and a question mark pops up where the price would normally be. Click it, and the prompt "It's Up To You" appears. Click again and it refreshes with the words "It's Really Up To You" — and really, it is. It's the first major album whose price is determined by what individual consumers want to pay for it. And it's perfectly acceptable to pay nothing at all."
shortly before the band started writing new songs, singer Thom Yorke told TIME, "I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one. And, yes, it probably would give us some perverse pleasure to say 'F*** you' to this decaying business model."
[via Times]
It will be very interesting to see how "naming your own price" will work as Radiohead's business model.
Funnily enough, I tried to pay for it - not a lot, but a token fee - and the checkout syste ended up quoting me a price of 0.00 pounds... which, needless to say, I accepted!
Posted by: Stuart Mudie | Tuesday, October 02, 2007 at 00:13
Cool! :)
I think they deserve my money just for giving me the freedom to name my price.
Posted by: Xen | Tuesday, October 02, 2007 at 09:53