“The experiment by the band Radiohead to allow their fans to determine the cost of their latest album may have backfired, according to a new report,” Nicole Martin reports for The Telegraph.
“It found that three in five people who downloaded In Rainbows from the internet paid absolutely nothing for it,” Martin reports.
“The group shocked the music industry last month when it announced that their fans could pay as much or as little as they wanted for their seventh album,” Martin reports.
“A report by the internet monitoring company comScore found that 62 per cent of the estimated 1.2 million people who downloaded the album paid nothing for it. The average price paid was $6 (£2.90),” Martin reports.
Full article here.
Josh Grossberg reports or E! News, “Americans were more generous, shelling out an estimated $8.05 per download. Those abroad, mostly consumers in Europe, averaged $4.64 per download.”
“According to comScore senior analyst Andrew Lipsman, Radiohead might be onto something. ‘If [Radiohead] is getting $6 on average, and it’s basically going straight into their pockets and their costs are minimal, it could be economically viable,'” Grossberg reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Remember, there’s no label to take their hefty cut. Radiohead has eliminated the middleman. Imagine if they also offered the album (and – blasphemy! – individual tracks) via Apple’s iTunes Store.
Grossberg continues, “Radiohead essentially needs to make $1.50 per download to break even, Lipsman estimates, so at $6 per buyer, the group still looks to make out pretty well.”
“‘The question is: How will new artists be able to use this [pay what you like] model in the future if they haven’t built a fan base in the millions in the years leading up to the release of their album under [this] model?’ said Michael Laskow, CEO of TAXI, a leading independent Artist and Repertoire firm,” Grossberg reports.
“Lipsman also pointed out that for every dollar consumers spent on download sales, they also spent $2 on Radiohead’s $80 deluxe box set, which includes a free In Rainbows download, as well as a physical CD of the album, a bonus disc of eight additional tracks, vinyl records, a lyric book. The package is due to ship Dec. 3,” Grossberg reports.
“A rep for Radiohead has previously said the band would release sales figures at the end of the year,” Grossberg reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jon” for the heads up.]
