OPINION: What Jay-Z, Radiohead and Amanda Fucking Palmer have in common
22 October 2013
Should music be free? This is a question I’ve discussed many times during my past year. The reality is that music is free! Whether we want it or not, that is how it is. The right question to ask is “How do we earn our investment back?”
Personally I admire all the innovative ideas launched by artists all over the world and I would like to share three ideas with you:
Amanda is a world famous American performer (Google her!). The musician normally gives all her music out for free online! When she in 2012 needed investment for her album ‘Theatre is Evil’ she asked her fans to donate money before the production started. She managed to raise $1.2 million from 25 thousand fans (average of $50 each). How cool is that?
Radiohead is one of the biggest rock bands in history. In 2007 they released their seventh album ‘In Rainbows’ online and told fans to pay whatever they wanted! 1.2 million copies were downloaded on the day of the release. A third of the fans paid nothing and the average price was $6.5 per album. The album generated more revenue than any other album the band had released!
Jay Z is a businessman of his own. In June this year he announced that all Samsung users could download his album free of charge a few days before everyone else. Samsung bought 1 million albums for $5 each. Do Samsung care if Jay-Z gives out the album to everyone else for free? Of course not, it’s a media stunt. Samsung wants attention and they know Jay-Z can give it to them–plus their customers will love them.
What’s in common? The user could get the music for free in all cases. So how do we earn our investment back on music?
In my opinion it’s not about forcing people to pay, but it’s about asking them to pay (or not pay). In many cases your fans love your music, and if you ask them nicely they’ll pay you back.
### Martin Nielsen, Mdundo.com ###
Personally I admire all the innovative ideas launched by artists all over the world and I would like to share three ideas with you:
Amanda is a world famous American performer (Google her!). The musician normally gives all her music out for free online! When she in 2012 needed investment for her album ‘Theatre is Evil’ she asked her fans to donate money before the production started. She managed to raise $1.2 million from 25 thousand fans (average of $50 each). How cool is that?
Radiohead is one of the biggest rock bands in history. In 2007 they released their seventh album ‘In Rainbows’ online and told fans to pay whatever they wanted! 1.2 million copies were downloaded on the day of the release. A third of the fans paid nothing and the average price was $6.5 per album. The album generated more revenue than any other album the band had released!
Jay Z is a businessman of his own. In June this year he announced that all Samsung users could download his album free of charge a few days before everyone else. Samsung bought 1 million albums for $5 each. Do Samsung care if Jay-Z gives out the album to everyone else for free? Of course not, it’s a media stunt. Samsung wants attention and they know Jay-Z can give it to them–plus their customers will love them.
What’s in common? The user could get the music for free in all cases. So how do we earn our investment back on music?
In my opinion it’s not about forcing people to pay, but it’s about asking them to pay (or not pay). In many cases your fans love your music, and if you ask them nicely they’ll pay you back.
### Martin Nielsen, Mdundo.com ###
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