Just another quick update to our previous post about Radiohead’s recent decision to let users set the price of their latest album In Rainbows. Commenting on the first update, “An update on Radiohead downloads,” reader Scott asked, “Any word on what the average person is paying for those 1.2M downloads? It will be interesting to see if this is more fiscally advantageous for the band than releasing under a major label.”
Well, as a matter of fact, “yes” there is some data on that. The folks at comScore recently reported that the average user who was willing to pay for the download forked out $6.00 for the album, or $0.60 per song. Among U.S. users, the average price was $8.05 for the album, or $0.81 per song. In comparison, songs sold through iTunes yield between $0.05 and $0.10 to the artist, depending on who you believe.
So, in terms of collecting money from those willing to pay, and excluding the promotional advantages of iTunes for up-and-coming artists, distributing music via the Radiohead model does seem to be more lucrative.
However, the comScore study also reports that only 38% of those people that downloaded the album via Radiohead’s site were actually willing to pay for the music. Furthermore, among those willing to pay, the largest proportion (17%) were only willing to spend under $4.00. This reminds me of the keg fridge my friends had in university, and the mostly empty donation jar that sat on top of it. As far as college students are concerned (and Radiohead fans… assuming the two are actually mutually exclusive), free is the best price around.
I think the main point here is that while this has proved somewhat successful for Radiohead, the model only works if you have an established fan base. Over 50% of the total revenues from downloads came from a small portion of loyal fans (12%) that willingly paid between $8.00 and $12.00 for the album. So, even if all music goes the way of the download, there will still be a role for music promoters. Although, I doubt these entities will look anything like the record labels of old.
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