Radiohead shafted by freeloaders

[froggyboy604]

Cheap at half the price

By Jesse Denzin-Weber: Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 6:46 PM

THE RESULTS ARE IN for the newest attempt to battle music piracy. Radiohead released their latest album, In Rainbows, this past October online instead of on CD. In addition, the band decided to allow purchasers the ability to name-their-own-price, instead of setting the price. Interestingly, only 38% of downloaders actually paid for the music.

According to Comscore, about 1.2 million people visited Radiohead’s website during October, and a significant portion downloaded the album. Rumors have been bouncing around for quite awhile as to how many people chose to pay for their download, but Comscore stated that only two out of five downloaders may actually have paid for their download.

The firm said that 40% of U.S. based users and 36% non-U.S. users paid for the album. U.S. users paid on average $8.05 and non-U.S. users paid an average of only $4.64. Only about 12% of downloaders were willing to pay between $8-$12 or about as much as a typical album from Itunes.

Overall, the average amount paid per album was $2.26 ($3.23 from U.S. users and $1.68 from non-U.S. users). If we assume that all 1.2 million visitors downloaded the album, the numbers come out to $2.7 million in total sales. While this number is low, Radiohead was not paying any fees to a record label either.

If the numbers are correct, it appears that music consumers, when given the choice, feel digital music should be free. There will always be those who will pay for their music based on their personal ethics, but these people are falling into the minority. Either way, it will be interesting to see if this “name-your-own-price” idea is ever used again. µ

S: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/ ... fers-hands