Comments on: Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ Paid for by 38% of Site Downloaders

By: Money for nothing: is it time to ditch incentive schemes? « Don't Compromise!

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:06:28 +0000

[...] taken into consideration – that the monetary return on the album would be miniscule. Why then did 38% of customers choose to pay? Surely, given the chance, we’d all opt to download the album for free. This [...]

By: Jau_Peacecraft

Jau_Peacecraft — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

this is erroneous; it really shows that around 62% of people who downloaded either:

1.) truly didn’t give two shits about paying for it.

2.) Figured out Radiohead ripped them off with a cheap ass gimmicky .zip file of 160kps copies of the album. I could find better copies *for free* if I waited a mere few weeks until the cd was released. These people then paid accordingly: cheap gimmicky copies of an album leads to cheap gimmicky sales for such copies.

By: soulxtc

soulxtc — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@Jay
Good point. Some of the people who downloaded it for free may just wanted to do so for the novelty of it and were never big fans.

By: mountain_rage

mountain_rage — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I disagree with the articles stance on the future for new artists. As oink myspace etc.. showed us. Bands can get plenty of free advertising online so long as they are good. If your bands good word of mouth will spread and you will be able to generate the funds necessary to do all the things bands currently do. The only difference is the middle man is removed benefiting the fans and the artists. Also if bands want to try their game at the old way of doing things I’m sure there will be a new group of music investors that will loan you money so you can start a band just like how you get a loan to start a business.

By: iamyour41

iamyour41 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Well there are many factors they must account for. Maybe the people that downloaded just wanted to show support for their album idea. Some people aren’t yet comfortable with spending money over the computer. If it is paypal you have to set up an account… wait for verification.. etc. Too much of a hassle for one music album imo. Maybe some of the people that downloaded the album were kids. You forget that there is a HUGE diff between hey let me get $20 for this CD I want… and hey I need your credit card for this album to download electronically over the internet. lol. Parents haven’t all come around to the idea either. Lastly… I don’t care about an artist being advertised etc etc. ALL of my music is word of mouth… or I will get into a friend’s car or go to their house and hear them listening to a song I like and go… hey who is that? Not… oh I was watching tv and this guy said this band is good so I must go buy their cd at target! YEAH! All in all it’s a very big step in the right direction. Also you forget how many new bands are made famous because of stuff such as Myspace etc. Without Myspace I’d be like who the hell is Tila Tequila? Etc.

By: d__tech

d__tech — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

So many things wrong with this statistic:
* Perhaps some fans are going to download it listen and decide if they like it and then donate if they do but they haven’t had the album long enough yet.
* Maybe some people pay for it at home but then download another copy from their work computer (or vice versa).
* Perhaps the RIAA is downloading free copies like mad to try to make it seem like only a small percent will actually pay (to try to scare other artists away from going independent.)
* Etc etc.

By: Spurge

Spurge — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

* Perhaps the RIAA is downloading free copies like mad to try to make it seem like only a small percent will actually pay (to try to scare other artists away from going independent.)

^^– That would almost be a sure bet i reckon!

By: rfbgb

rfbgb — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

prehaps is true what you say spurge

By: SpocksBrainOnDrugs

SpocksBrainOnDrugs — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Did RIAA cronies download some albums for free?

You know they did. They would do ANYTHING to make this whole innovative idea seem like a bad business move.

By: iamyour41

iamyour41 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I would like to know what they made for this album… vs other albums. Also I’d like to know how many albums that got dled off their site vs how many albums were sold through advertising. See that’s what makes a difference. If unloading 100cds people paying $5 is like unloading 500cds with a record label… you are doing good. It’s not like they had to distribute ANYTHING. They didn’t have to pay for people to make the raw cds. If the quality was higher than 160kbps I bet a lot more people woulda bought the album.