What Is the Value of an Album?
Could you imagine a world where you pay what you want for an album? Do you think you should pay ten dollars for a new album or maybe even five dollars? Shockingly the mind blowing alternative band Radiohead is giving you the option. Their newest album which is entitled "In Rainbows" is set for release in just ten more days, which comes as a surprise considering nobody truly knew when this album was hitting shelves. The only catch is that the album is only in a downloadable format, which isn't much of a catch at all. Having the choice to pay whatever you wish for their newest album is such a bold statement coming from one of the boldest bands currently around. To be more specific when you click to pre-order the download their are empty spaces next to the price which are there for you to type in whatever amount you wish. Next to those empty spaces is a question mark; when clicked on a screen appears saying "It's Up To You." In case you are worried about just owning a downloaded version of the album or maybe your just afraid Radiohead won't receive proper compensation for the work put in they are releasing a physical version of the album which will include the CD, two heavyweight 12" vinyls, and a second CD containing a variety of extras which will cost £40 which I believe translates roughly to $60.Given this option to pay whatever I please is almost overwhelming. Just how much should I pay? Radiohead has blessed me with fantastic music for so many years, I almost feel like I should be paying $30, but at the same time I don't feel music should be expensive. Music prices need to stay low if they want to combat illegal sharing. I'll probably find myself paying $10 or maybe even a tad bit less because of the fact that it isn't in a physical form which is something I really like to have.
This brings up the obvious question of: How much would you pay for an album coming from a band you love?
posted by Jeff at 12:18 PM
6 Comments:
I wrote about this on my blog too (good move by Radiohead - everyone's talking about them!) I think this is a really cool thing they're doing, and I suspect there will be fewer people paying nothing than we realize.
In response to the question, I think anywhere from $6-$10 is how much I'd prefer to spend on a CD. I'd pay more if it was a group or artist I really like, and I knew the money was going directly to them.
I have a lot of respect for Radiohead right now, because they're assuming their fans are not bad people who want to take, take, take. This builds a good artist-fan relationship.
It depends. In this scenario would I have heard any samples before acquiring the album?
For example, I love the band Chicago but most of their recent material has been (to put it bluntly) shit. Their last album I received an advance download of. I listened to it maybe twice and I'm glad I never paid for it as I'd probably be more apt to use the CD as a coaster than actually play it.
On the other hand there have been albums I've bought completely "unheard" that have turned out to be favorites of mine and I'd have been willing to pay more for those albums. In the end I think it has all balanced out though. I've paid too much for some albums that weren't worth the CDs they were recorded on and I've paid too little for some really great music too.
With this rationale of paying for the music what the music is worth... A band like the Rolling Stones for example should charge about 50% more for any/all of their material recorded 1975 and before and charge about 75% less for any and all of their material recorded AFTER 1975. A band like Chicago should charge about 75% more for their first eleven albums (recorded between 1969 and 1978) and about 90% less for their material recorded after that. A band like ELP who you recently mentioned should charge substantially more for Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery than for other albums in their catalog.
Russ - I think $6 - $10 sounds pretty good for a price of a CD.
Perplexio - Well in this particular case you wouldn't be hearing any samples.
I think I'd probably go with $5 since it's just a download, but I like the idea. I was thinking that they really did give us some great music, but they also sold me Kid A and Amnesiac on double 10" for $20 each and neither album was all that good. The money they lose on people paying 1 cent will be more than made up for with the cheap advertising they get from the hype. Just when I was ready to write them off as no longer relevant, they come up with this and I'm intrigued all over again.
Bob - I ended up paying $8 for it, I figured somewhere in the area of $5 and $10 would be sufficient. And I happened to like Kid A, not so much Amnesiac though.
I paid $10 myself, but like you, I'm a grad student and I'm not exactly overflowing with cash! I'll probably shill out for the box set when I can, but I think the album is stupendously great, so I feel like I owe them more. Most albums I want my money back, but this was a great investment, for me and them.
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