Radiohead 'pay as you see fit strategy' proves fans are skinflints

The Wall Street Journal's "The Numbers Guy" blogger Carl Bailik has an interesting post about sales of Radiohead's latest musical effort, "In Rainbows". The album was offered by the band directly to the public via the internet on a 'pay as you see fit' basis. Since I love the band's music, I paid $12, which I thought a fair compromise between what the tunes were really worth to me and the cost savings they realized by this type of release.

Sadly, if Comscore's stats as reported by Bailik are reflective of the purchasing public, my decision was way, way out of the norm. They show that, on average, purchasers thought that $2.26 was the free market price. Worse, 62% paid nada, depending on schmucks like me to support their habit. Worse yet, according to Forbes, over half a million people chose to download the album from illegal sites, even though they could get it for free (and legally) from Radiohead.

Bialik rightly calls into question the veracity of the stats, though. Since Comscore uses a self-selected group of two million that have agreed to allow the company to track their habits via software installed on their computers, one must question if these users accurately reflect the buying public in the aggregate. I know that my buying wasn't part of that sampling. For example, I'm not a file-sharer as a rule. Perhaps the buying behavior of people like me would make the results less discouraging for those championing Radiohead's model.

After listening to the tunes for a couple of weeks, though, I have to say I don't begrudge a penny of my $12. This band has earned it with an excellent listen. Those of you listening on my nickel; I hope you enjoy it, too.