Radiohead, aside from being an always evolving band musically and now venturing into the business aspects of the industry, have helped bring the seldom used pay what you can method for online sales up for debate yet again. And it looks like their take on it went rather swimmingly...
Here is the link to the Wired Blog post.
http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/10/estimates-radio.html
A good read on its own.
As musicians going after the ultimate in the rock star lifestyle, we constantly should ask ourselves, "Why go major label?" Radiohead's "stunt" is proof, successfully showing what can be done by taking a couple of good risks.
Today the world is open to all...even if the real sales numbers are half, even a quarter of the estimates, it cost very little to put it together in comparison. So by all accounts, they did very well for themselves. Note well that there has been a lot of work leading up to this so called pay off but never-the-less, there is a lesson to be learned.
By using the model, build your fan base then offer them something fresh and of value, they proved a pay what you want digital album could be successfully released without the marketing machines that are the major labels...if every serious band out there could replicate even 1% of their estimated totals, there would be a much more healthy environment for the fans, artists and businesses that revolved around the music industry.
Like everything in life, there is more to it than meets the eye but the essence is there. Those that take risks have a chance at making it. This is one more avenue to explore since it will be some time before a standard is adopted by the majors and progress grinds down once again. Until then, go on and give it away.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment