Got this in my mailbox a few minutes ago:
THANK YOU FOR ORDERING IN RAINBOWS. THIS IS AN UPDATE. YOUR UNIQUE ACTIVATION CODE(S) WILL BE SENT OUT TOMORROW MORNING (UK TIME). THIS WILL TAKE YOU STRAIGHT TO THE DOWNLOAD AREA. HERE IS SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE DOWNLOAD: THE ALBUM WILL COME AS A 48.4MB ZIP FILE CONTAINING 10 X 160KBPS DRM FREE MP3s.
I paid £1.38 for the album which is called In Rainbows. Radiohead are pioneering an idea where punters can decide themselves how much to pay for an album. I figured that, well, there’s minimal incremental cost for them if I get download the album and if enough people pay what I pay, it will cover their fixed costs. What a magnificent idea! After this I’m never paying more than £2 for another album again!
It’s a brilliant experiment in marketing and one that I hope will prove to be successful. Yes, there will be people who abuse the model, but if the majority of people stick with it, it jut might work. I’ll be watching this one!