May
27th
Tue
27th
Poole and Pogue (who quotes the same snippet) both miss the fact that in both cases described above, the bands in question didn’t “give away and pray,” but both put together real strategic business models that were focused on using the infinite goods (the music) to sell more scarce goods. In the case of Radiohead (despite some claims to the contrary) at the same time Radiohead announced the downloads it also told fans that it would be selling a beautiful “discbox” for the album as well. This was a very valuable scarce good — that the free music made a lot more valuable by increasing the demand for it. As for Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor offered a tiered system of scarce goods that were all made more valuable by the availability of the music — proven by the fact that Reznor quickly sold out of his limited edition deluxe offering.
