October 1, 2007
'It's up to you'
Posted by Stacy Chandler at October 1, 2007 1:54 PMLeave it to Radiohead to turn the music business model on its ear.
Apparently the band will release its new album digitally on Oct. 10, and those visiting the band's Web site to pre-order are quoted a price of "It's up to you."
If you want to pay zero dollars, you can. And some asshats have. Or you can pay whatever you feel the band's new album might be worth. Intriguing, no? Click here to read all about it.
At first I wished the band had included some sort of guide for non-music-insiders to go by. Like "The band will make a profit on a sale of $5 or more." So you can judge whether you're being cheap or generous or what. But on second thought, I love the freedom and simplicity of this idea, and I can't wait to see what happens.
Interesting point - "guide for non-music-insiders" -- I'd say that since they are releasing this themselves, they will be making almost all profit on the downloads. Bandwidth is cheap these days, and since they have their W.A.S.T.E. merchandise store already in place, I would think that there wouldn't be much adaptation for this event.
Translation: they are going to make HAND OVER FIST on this...
Keep in mind -- EVERYONE hears this on the same day -- no pre-press listening copies, no streaming, no promo, no mp3s, etc...
I call it -- "The Shot Heard 'Round the Internet"
Posted by: news at October 1, 2007 2:41 PMI pre-ordered the download, decided not to scrape up $80 for the boxed set, but I'm not sure my order went through. Their website is seeing tremendous traffic and is acting a bit wonky.
How much did I "donate?" I decided a new Radiohead album was worth $15 to be, no problem, so that came out to 7.5 British Pounds.
Posted by: larry at October 1, 2007 2:47 PM
