Yay for Radiohead! Yay for NIN! Yay for the millions of other people who gave their music away for free. Free is good, free is easy, free is … well, free.
Wait a minute. Is it good?
What happened to the expression “you get what you pay for?” Since when do we walk into a store, look at a shirt, and say “oh, you know, wearing this shirt means supporting the company that makes it, and they already make too much money, and I’d just be advertising for them every time I wear the shirt. So unless it’s free, I’m not gonna wear it.”
Yeah, that doesn’t happen either.
In the bold, new freemium economy, the theory is that by giving away your product, you can draw people to the message, the tour, the branding, the whatever. You’re creating an awareness that can’t be measured in dollars and sense. Yes, sense.
Think of this another way: Radiohead doesn’t put their album out for free, and they go on tour. D’you think it’s gonna sell out in every single city? Yup, it will.
So why put the album out for free? Easy.
Now they’re the “sainted” Radiohead that turned the industry on its golden ear. They’re hip to the Web 2.0/360-degree/Global Village/Insert Buzzword Here mentality that pervades the industry these days. By putting their music out as a virtually disposable commodity, Radiohead is doing like the world’s oldest drug dealer: the first hit’s on them, after that you gotta pay…
The concert ticket, t-shirt, souvenir mug, foam finger, and inflatible Thom Yorke dolls all cost money, and is it surprising that the margin for profit is MUCH higher on those items? But since you didn’t pay for the music (you indie hipster, you!), odds are you’ll be shelling it out for the other stuff.
Check this out: Here’s an article by an economist at Princeton. Written back in ’02, he lays the blame for high ticket prices on declining music sales and illegal downloading. No surprise there, but check out this stat: over the last 5 years (for this article, ’97 to ’02), the average concert ticket cost went up by 61%.
Now, flash-forward to today. Radiohead did a cool thing and kept ticket costs capped at about $55. But other bands? Madonna goes from $95 – $350. Jimmy Buffett will get you on the lawn for $36, but anyplace else will cost $136, and there’re no middle price ranges.
Our friend at Princeton goes on to say that jazz ticket prices have risen fairly slowly, but the decline in music sales isn’t nearly as steep.
So, higher music sales equates to lower ticket prices. What a coincidence!
Unless of course you’re Radiohead. Maybe they really are saints …
