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There’s a whiff of future shock in Radiohead’s grand experiment to let fans choose how much to pay for downloading the band’s new album In Rainbows.
The British alt-rock band isn’t the first music act to try this experiment, but this is the most disruptive effort yet. Controlling both the means of distribution and marketing, Radiohead seeks to disintermediate the band’s former label Capitol Records.
That’s a concept freelancers everywhere - not just musicians - should sit up and observe.
“For a band in their position, selling the album online is a smart move and they stand to make a great deal more profit than if they were to release it through another major label,” says Kara Murphy, Founder of Flogmusic.com. But, she adds, “A smaller band may not do as well. Radiohead are going to prove that online distribution is the wave of the future and the conglomerates are going to continue to falter.”
If Radiohead’s effort succeeds, will the practice of a customer-set-price auction for services or products spread to other fields beyond music? (Think Priceline.)
What if you’re a lesser known freelancer in your field - say, you’re a C# programmer with agile programming experience? Could you find a market of willing buyers to bid for your services?
“The only way Radiohead can enter into this with no idea of what people will pay is because they have a product whose marginal cost of manufacturing and distribution is close to zero,” contends Wired’s Chris Anderson in his blog, The Long Tail.
True. But here are other reasons why Radiohead should succeed in this endeavor and what it might mean for freelancers who seek to follow this career path:
- Establishing value. Fans know Radiohead’s sound and many will purchase In Windows even without hearing it first. Thinking as a freelancer, what would a new client be willing to pay for your work sight unseen? You could have recommendations from trusted third-parties - that might help immensely.
- Freedom. Radiohead, one the most critically acclaimed rock bands, is without a record contract. Most freelancers know the feeling well.
- Changing Economics. The Rolling Stones, rockers since dinosaurs ruled the earth, made $437 million on their last concert tour. As an “Indie-style” band, Radiohead will never score that much money, but their concerts always sellout, and they will earn big bucks. Is there an analogy for freelancers? Yes. If a freelancer self-publishes a book or a programmer creates open-source code, those accomplishments will boost their market value.
Today some freelancers go to exchanges to bid their services on available projects. In some cases, the project listing is free but the freelancer pays a five percent (of the contract) referral fee to the site for a winning bid.
The long-predicted world where many workers are free-agents and market-demand determines their pay - perhaps via hosted labor auctions - still seems a little far-fetched. But only just a little.
