Radiohead - how much did you pay?
Radiohead’s decision to sell their latest album solely online and allow the purchaser to choose the price they wish to pay for it has potentially huge ramifications for how we buy our media online.
How will Radiohead’s latest move change the buying attitudes of the general public, if at all? My feeling is that, initially, it will have little impact. The ripples from this one album from, albeit, one of the biggest rock bands in the world at the moment, will barely buzz the conscious of the music companies and publishing houses. But should another big brand (and Radiohead are a brand, make no bones about it) adopt a similar policy based on the success of this album’s sales and profitability, like the falling of tiny stones that causes the avalanche, we could see more and more online media pricing being decided by the paying public.
This manner of paying could only be adopted by brands which are selling a service or product with no intrinsic component value. Audio / visual streams are obvious candidates. Ultra-low cost white goods, such as low-tech computers could also feature. But so could service based operations where you pay for the information you receive. AQA (Any-Questions-Answered) are one such information based service who might consider such an approach. Search engines too might eventually move to a pay-per-search service.
Of course, only those companies with a strong brand would dare adopt such a policy. If you are a disliked brand (Microsoft) you would never dare adopt a policy where, largely based on the user’s opinion of you, you were paid accordingly. But brands such as Apple, with a stronger connection to their users and subsequent respect might be tempted to try the policy, if only on lower priced items, to both enjoy the publicity and test their opposition.
It will be fascinating to see (and I do hope Radiohead reveal the results) how much people paid for the album. Whilst not a huge fan of the band, I admired their balls and opted to pay £7.99 for the album, the same price as most albums on itunes. I know others who have paid £5 for the album (as itunes are bound to mark tracks up for their own profit-margin and Radiohead really don’t need the money) and likewise have spoken to people who have paid £10 - the price of a CD.
So, how much did you pay and how often will you be left to decide how much something is worth in the future?
Further reading…..
from the BBC site, details for download prices: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7082627.stm
