Radiohead gives away music for free to its fans
Referring to Jan’s article about the «Powershift to Creative People» I would like to go a little bit more into the Radiohead example he mentioned.
It’s not the first time that a music band gives its newly released hits as freebies to its fans using the latest available technology. By announcing that their 7th album will be available only as a digital download online for a price which the person downloading can decide him- or herself, Radiohead is offering a deal that is both innovative and interesting from a moral as well as an economic perspective.
The band obviously trusts the “invisible hand,” the self-regulatory forces of the market, to determine a fair price - an interaction between supply and demand or production value and perceived value. The band believes fans are willing to pay an appropriate fee for what the artistic performance is worth, and will therefore pay a fair price.
The economic point of view is very logical: the biggest revenue slice, based on past experience, will be the income from touring, merchandising, and copyright payments – taking this into consideration, the decision is therefore not that radical at all.
The innovative and interesting thing is the continuing change of the business model in the music industry. The self-distribution model could inspire other artists and hopfully enhance artistic liberty and creativity!
October 18th, 2007 at 6:24 am
That’s truely an innovative step. On a more underground level, there are many indie bands in Malaysia who would not stop producing music simply because they are not getting enough shelf space in traditional record stores. Many of them are turning to the web to sell singles instead of albums. And they realised that what they would not earn at record stores, is made up through regional purchase and download. And I think this way also pushes them to create better music since people are not buying whole albums anymore, so they can’t get away with a one hit wonder if they want to stay hot. Brilliant.