More on Radiohead's Experiment

PaidContent.org has what it claims to be a "concrete analysis" of Radiohead's experiment in letting customers set their own prices. In the first 29 days of October, 1.2 million people supposedly visited the site, though that doesn't say how many people downloaded the music. Of the downloading group, 38% chose to pay, and 62% didn't. Average worldwide price paid was $6, and when you factor in the number that didn't pay, the average payment per download was $3.23. Because we don't know how many are downloaded/sold, it's impossible to know how much money the band has made. For some additional details, check PaidContent.org's sister UK site.

What to make of this? My feelings are ambivalent. Of course not everyone would pay, particularly when the band offered to let people choose their own price, and zero was an acceptable offer. But a good chunk did. The average payment was small, and yet it could quickly add up. Imagine an author getting even $2 or $3 a copy. Now, Radiohead is well known, and those who aren't well known will have a more difficult time getting the sales. But that's generally true even with conventional publishing. Even a relatively small number - in the low thousands - could start generating the type of money that would rival at least the lower end of advances of many of the series books (like Dummies, Idiots, Buffoons, Morons, Chowderheads, Politicians). And the up side would be far more attractive.