Radiohead - is this the future for commercial creativity?

The music world and the online world in general is abuzz with Radiohead's decision to let fans decide how much they pay for the bands new album In Rainbows before being allowed to download it via their web site.

This simple act has allowed the band to bypass the need for a record company. It's estimated, on average the band will still make about the same amount of money from downloads as they would have going the usual CD release route after the record companies have taken their cut. On average, I've read people are paying about US$8.00 for an album which you can, if you choose, download for free. It's up to you.

If you would like to read a deeper article on the repercussions then Maki from www.doshdosh.com has written a great article about Radiohead and Anti-marketing in the music industy.

What's clever about their decision is that it completely legalizes the free sharing of music. Something that is very web 2.0 where the new words for sharing on a grand scale is going viral. People love getting stuff for free. If the music is good people will share it and pay to see it performed live. By all accounts this is where the real money is for bands and musicians.

What interests me is, could this approach work for other forms of creativity or does this model only work if the sharing by optional donation approach leads to a pay per unit style revenue stream down the line?

For example, could a painter give away, by optional donation, print quality, digital scans of artworks to raise awareness and generate buzz that could lead to people wanting to own the real, original works?

My own business model of uploading free videos of me creating my art in order to raise awareness of my web site, through which I sell merchandise and original art via ebay is a similar idea.

Giving the people what they want so that they may be interested to purchase something later that they perceive as having real value, worth paying for. Which is not to say the free stuff doesn't have value but we all know, at least with digital files, it costs virtually nothing to make a copy.

I don't know. In a sense the idea of people choosing to pay what they want is like busking. It's kind of honorable but at the same time kind of sad. It's like saying I'll take whatever you can give. I don't put a value on my creativity. I'm leaving that up to you.

In theory, if I do a really good job, the next time I release something and ask for people to donate what they like, they may just pay more second time around because their first experience was much better value than they originally thought. I guess that's called creating demand.

Perhaps it's just me but the donation model doesn't sit well with my psyche. I don't mind giving something for free but taking a donation feels like accepting charity or begging.

Radiohead's business model is a good one for a modern world where everyone seems connected. It's a fantastic way to interact directly with your audience (known as your market in business terms). However it's going to take a little more time to see if it really is the future for commercial creativity.

Is there really money to be made by giving your creativity away?

Comments

Australian Federal Election 2025 - World's Most Boring Government Re-elected by Landside - We're Even More Fine!

Anthony Albanese Victory by ChatGPT and TET. W hen I started writing about the 2025 Federal election the polls were suggesting the world's most boring government was crusing to a defeat . As it turns out, boring is good, and Australia wants more of it, handing the current government a landslide win with a majority vote. Anthony Albanese became the first PM since John Howard to win a consecutive term, and the first Labor PM since Bob Hawke to do so. Some of that comes down to the leadership revolving door both major parties had through the mid 2000s. Although Anthony is my preferred PM over Dutton the irony is Dutton sounds more like a leader with a fairly commanding voice and an ability to speak well, without sounding like he's waffling and dodging questions, even if he is. Anthony, on the other hand, does have the ability (and speech writer) to say a lot of inspiring things but it gets lost in the delivery. He doesn't seem to know when to emphasise a point for effect. In h...

Review: ArtHelper - The All-In-One AI Writing + Marketing Assistant for Artists - 'ChatGPT for Artists'

ArtHelper prides itself on being all 'human-made' art. T he idea of an AI, trained specifically on art business marketing, that can not only offer advice on marketing your work, but also assist with creating all the content too, is certainly appealing. Especially to those of us who would rather spend more time creating our art than trying to sell it. ArtHelper does just that whilst attempting to be your 'home' on the internet. A destination for your profile and portfolio, a marketplace for your art, and a directory of artists as well, with one distinction - all the art must be human made. Which, for you AI artists, doesn't count the prompt for AI generated art - because the idea, according to ArtHelper's creators, isn't the art. Which is a fair point, in terms of promoting art 'made by a human', but can get kind of murky when you understand that not all AI art is generated from a single prompt... and 'found object art' isn't actually ...

TV Series Review: 12 Monkeys (2015 - Season 1 ) Spoiler Free

Being a fan of the 1995, Terry Gilliam movie, Twelve Monkeys , when I discovered SyFy channel had adapted it into a TV series, 12 Monkeys , I was interested to see how that would pan out. Although the show has been aired in Australia on free to air TV (I'm pretty sure I've seen it listed there at ridiculous hours on occasion), it's only recently that the first two seasons were added to Australian Netflix. So I added it to my list of shows to watch. This article is not so much a review of the show, rather it's my thoughts on adapting to the TV version after being a big fan of the film. At this point, I've only seen all of season one and the first episode of season two. Going into the TV series I literally went in cold, not knowing anything about the approach to this adaptation from pre-publicity or trailers beforehand. I didn't really have any expectations other than wondering if the show would stick to the movie plot lines closely and, if they did, how w...

Movie Review: Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham (2023) Spoilers

I don't know why I go into every WB Animation/DC Comics animated movie hopeful that it's going to be good. It almost never is. You'd think my expectations would be so low by this point that it wouldn't take much to be pleasantly surprised but apparently not. I can only guess that WB Animation's latest DC offering, Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham is intended to be some kind of special release for Halloween with the amount of monsters and supernatural elements that lie within. The trouble is, I don't know who this is for? Given the body count, it's not for kids and, with all the magic and supernatural elements front and center it's not really a detective story? Set in 1920's Gotham, an ancient evil is awakened, and only Batman can save the city (I guess? I mean a good proportion of the city gets burned to the ground so... did he save it?). Given the time period I was hopeful this could be something of an interesting take on Batman along the li...

BEILEXING Autocycle Style ABS Cartoon Building Brick - 378pcs - COLORMIX - Motorcycle kit Product Review

BEILEXING Brick Motorcycle Kit The first time I saw the Beilexing Brick Motorcycle Kit I thought it was nothing short of stunning. I'm not even a fan of motorcycles in general but the detail of this set and how much it captured the spirit of a real world motorcycle really impressed me. Then I saw the set cost considerably less than a similar sized kit from the Lego Technic range I just couldn't pass it up. When the kit arrived it did not disappoint. Made from ABS plastic the bricks are fully compatible with, and are of comparable quality to, official Lego bricks. I did notice that the tires and chain links seemed a little less sturdy than their Lego equivalents but beyond that you'd be hard pressed to say the quality of the parts wasn't almost as good. The model is 35.00 x 10.00 x 6.00 cm / 13.78 x 3.94 x 2.36 inches in size and should be no trouble for intermediate to advanced builders to construct with a clear, and easy to follow instruction manual. A she...

Is AI Art 'Art'? The Say NO to AI Art Movement, and Why Human Artists Will Adapt

AI Art No T-Shirt by TET Also available on other items . Right now there is a big debate over not just whether AI art is 'art' but whether AI's are actually ripping off the work of actual human artists, without their consent, to create their images - particularly images 'in the style of' specific artists. From my own observations this debate started to get more traction when artist's signatures began appearing in the output of AI Art image generators. Is It Art? Cool Froyd the Cat Sketch by TET. My style is very much influenced by classic Disney and WB character styles. To get some clarity on how real human artists work (of which I am one)... we, that is all of us... take influences from the art that has come before. i.e. whatever artists we like, have studied, seen etc. we are influenced by. It shows up in our work, intentionally or not. If you really study my own cartoony art style you'll see I'm heavily influenced by early Disney and Warner Bros cart...

West Beach Skatepark, Adelaide, South Australia

Main Vert Ramp, West Beach. West Beach Skatepark , Adelaide, South Australia, is one of my favorite skateparks, even though I can barely skate anything in it well. Most of the park is way above my ability. Located not far from the end of the runway at Adelaide Airport it can be a bit disconcerting seeing how low the planes get as they come in to land. From certain vantage points you'd swear they're about to crash into the park instead of fly over to the runway. The park is nearly an hour's drive from my house in Gawler so the only time I get to visit is if I'm dropping my partner off at the airport (which is a rare occurrence). This particular day was a hot 41 degrees celsius. I didn't think I'd skate but the heat guaranteed the park to be virtually empty (except for one other skater who lasted about as long as I did before giving it away). Below is a video with some highlights from my, about an hour long, session. As you can see, my ability is l...

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog