Much like Paul Feldman, the bagel guy we wrote about in Freakonomics, Jane Siberry has decided to offer her wares to the public via an honor-system payment scheme. She gives her fans four choices:
1. free (gift from Jane)
2. self-determined (pay now)
3. self-determined (pay later so you are truly educated in your decision)
4. standard (today’s going rate is about .99)
Then, cleverly, she posts statistics on payment rates to date:
% Accepting gift from Jane: 17%
% Paid by determining price: 37%
% Paying Later: 46%
Avg Price Per Track: $1.14
% Paid Below Suggested: 8%
% Paid At Suggested: 79%
% Paid Above Suggested: 14%
Even more cleverly, Siberry posts the average payment rate for each song as you pull your payment option from the drop-down menu — another reminder that, Hey, you’re more than welcome to steal this music but here’s how other people have acted in the recent past. Methinks Ms. Siberry grasps the power of incentives quite well. This allows for at least a couple of interesting things to happen: people can decide what to pay after they hear the music, and see how much it’s worth to them (it looks like people generally pay the most per song under this option); and it takes the variable-pricing scheme that economists love and puts it in the hands of the consumer, not the seller.
I think record companies will need a lot more convincing before they’re willing to try this model on a large scale. Presumably, Jane Siberry fans who go to her website to get her music are a deeply self-selecting lot, far more devoted than the average downloader. But as desperate as the record companies are, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of this in the future. (Perhaps someone’s already doing it — please let us know if you know; and thanks to Gordon Morrison for the Siberry tip.)
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Harvey Danger released their most recent album as a free Torrent download (http://www.harveydanger.com/press/why.php). After you’ve downloaded the album, you can choose to buy the CD online or make a contribution via PayPal or snail mail. I downloaded the album and made a contribution at the same time because I like the band and support what their distribution method.
Harvey Danger released their most recent album as a free Torrent download (http://www.harveydanger.com/press/why.php). After you’ve downloaded the album, you can choose to buy the CD online or make a contribution via PayPal or snail mail. I downloaded the album and made a contribution at the same time because I like the band and support what their distribution method.
Jane Siberry’s 1981 album, “Jane Siberry,” is one of my favorite discs of all-time. I wish her site had been there 15 years ago — the CD was hard to find and expensive. But worth it.
I’d be curious to see if this album does well on her site — in general, do the better albums sell more than the worse ones? Do buyers volunteer to pay more for the better ones? Do buyers who don’t know the artist, but happen to start with the better albums, wind up buying more? Is it worth giving away some of your best work for free in order to attract new customers, or should you give them your “averagest” work and hope they pay for the good stuff?
Jane Siberry’s 1981 album, “Jane Siberry,” is one of my favorite discs of all-time. I wish her site had been there 15 years ago — the CD was hard to find and expensive. But worth it.
I’d be curious to see if this album does well on her site — in general, do the better albums sell more than the worse ones? Do buyers volunteer to pay more for the better ones? Do buyers who don’t know the artist, but happen to start with the better albums, wind up buying more? Is it worth giving away some of your best work for free in order to attract new customers, or should you give them your “averagest” work and hope they pay for the good stuff?
On a related topic, Magnatune (http://www.magnatune.com/) allows you to buy DRM free music where you get to chose how much you pay ($5 to $18). While Magnatune does keep and present statistics on how much people, on average, choose to pay they don’t present it as proactively as Jane Siberry’s site.
On a related topic, Magnatune (http://www.magnatune.com/) allows you to buy DRM free music where you get to chose how much you pay ($5 to $18). While Magnatune does keep and present statistics on how much people, on average, choose to pay they don’t present it as proactively as Jane Siberry’s site.
I was reading Freakonomics this weekend and, at the end of the bagel man chapter, wondered if his collections would go up if he, like Jane Siberry, posted his data. For instance, if a whole company could see that the executives were the biggest cheapskates that might be an incentive either for the working stiffs to pay less, or for the execs to steal less out of shame or to set a good example. Similarly, If one company new that their crosstown rivals were more honest, they might try to catch up. FInally, some may cheat on the assumption that they are the only ones who do so and therefore are not costing the bagel man too much. If they knew that he was only recouping, say, 87% of the bagels, they might be less inclined to do so, sort of like Siberry posting what others have paid for the same song.
I was reading Freakonomics this weekend and, at the end of the bagel man chapter, wondered if his collections would go up if he, like Jane Siberry, posted his data. For instance, if a whole company could see that the executives were the biggest cheapskates that might be an incentive either for the working stiffs to pay less, or for the execs to steal less out of shame or to set a good example. Similarly, If one company new that their crosstown rivals were more honest, they might try to catch up. FInally, some may cheat on the assumption that they are the only ones who do so and therefore are not costing the bagel man too much. If they knew that he was only recouping, say, 87% of the bagels, they might be less inclined to do so, sort of like Siberry posting what others have paid for the same song.