The Future of Music and Media
Chris | Live Tech Support | Video Help | Add to iTunes
http://live.pirillo.com/ – A few of my friends joined me on Skype last night to discuss some of today’s hot Tech topics. Even Geeks have definite opinions about music, bands, and what’s cool… or not.
Four of my friends joined me for this discussion: Kat, SC_Thor, Wirelesspacket, and last but certainly not least… Datalore.
An announcement was made today by the band Radiohead that their upcoming album “In Rainbows” will have a price of… nothing.
On Monday, Radiohead sent shockwaves through the music biz with the announcement that its new album, “In Rainbows,” will be released for download from their website on Oct. 10. The price? Whatever you choose. You elect how much to pay, be it one cent, $15 or $100. The choose-your-own-price method is doubly risky and seems almost like an experiment to pinpoint pricing demand. But should anyone pay more than what someone is willing to sell it for? Does one have to consult with an ethicist to listen to Radiohead now?
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. In all likelihood, they will actually make more money than they would had they sold the album at a set price. Not only will more people be apt to buy it, people like us may pay MORE, simply because we get to choose. WE get to decide. In the end, isn’t that what consumers want? The freedom of choice…
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3 Comments
Mikelinux
October 2nd, 2007
at 7:35pm
I really think its good what Radiohead is going to do. A lot of musicians loose income on their music, because of, studio costs, the record company, distribution costs for cd’s etc.
Also the new forms of media like I-tunes, urge etc. are taking down the sales of cd’s.And honestly, its not that bad. Cd’s will still be available to some people, but MP3,MP4 is defenitly the market for the future. It’s easier to download tracks from your “lazy chair”, then drive to town to buy a cd. And mp3 is playable on multiple devices like mp3 players, stereo systems, computers and phones (at least when no DRM is applied).
Allthough setting the Radiohead-album price to “none” is a bit risky.
Even if there are many people willing to pay for the album, i think the ammount of “freeloaders” still will be higher. I think every musician or record label faces the problem that millions of internet users are downloading and sharing music illegally, even if there other options like Itunes or Urge.Illegal downloads are caused because of high cd prices and DRM. And then there is the mentallity of the consumer itself: “why pay, when u can have it for free? its all there on the internet, and when i dont do it, somebody else will !”
I hope that this mentallity will change when music will be available in the way what Radiohead is doing.However, i would set the minimum price to at least 10 cents. On a million downloads, 10 cents per download would still be better than having no money at all, and for the consumer it still will feel as a almost free download. You even could make it easier if you could pay the ammount of money via an SMS, so that subscriptions or bankdetails are not neccesary at all.
In that way the band would make money enough to provide us with good music, instead loosing it because of free downloads and other costs like mentioned above.And they would not even need a record label at all, since everything can be done online with an own myspace page,an own website and youtube!
The future of music is not finding ways of selling the music anymore, but more like: what value are consumers giving to the artist/band, and what are they willing to pay. Also for new artists and bands its the ideal way of selling and spreading their music, instead of trying to get a contract of a record label.This way of spreading music also will give a lot of freedom to the consumers
bayoujim
October 3rd, 2007
at 6:17am
You can not stop technological progress, CD’s are out, downloading is in. The companies that cannot keep up will lose.
Matt
October 3rd, 2007
at 3:29pm
Chris, I manage a small local band and have many friends in the biz, and most are completely independent. With Myspace, Purevolume, and just the internet there is no reason to be on a label. If you are on a label you only see a profit if you sell a cd at one of your concerts but not a penny if it is sold in the store. One of my friends bands was just recently signed to a large indie label and they have an interesting agreement. The label will release all of their content to stores like Samgoody and Best Buy but the band will release there own stuff via iTunes and at shows (concerts). So this means they get publicity but still remain some what independent. But most bands I know prefer to remain completely indie.