Radiohead's experiment offering their new album for download was interesting; fans could either get the album 'In Rainbows' for free from the Radiohead site or choose how much to pay for.
Data from comScore estimated that the site had 1.2 million visitors in the month after the album launched, and 38% opted to pay for the album. The remaining 62% downloaded the album for free, though that was slightly lower, 60%, in the US.
Those Americans were not only more willing to pay, but willing to pay more; $8.05 per download over $4.64 for users outside the US.
Overall, 17% of people paid under $4 and 12% paid between $8-$12 - pretty much the same as an album on iTunes. 4% paid over $12.
comScore quotes Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures (the venture firm that invested in Twitter) saying he's surprised that so many chose to download for free, though I thought 38% paying was quite a healthy achievement.
"The stories to date about the In Rainbows 'pick your price' download offer have been much more optimistic. I paid $5 U.S. and had no reluctance whatsoever to take out my card and pay. It's a fantastic record, the best thing they've done in years. But, this shows pretty conclusively that the majority of music consumers feel that digital recorded music should be free and is not worth paying for. That's a large group that can't be ignored and its time to come up with new business models to serve the freeloader market."
Source: comScore via Techmeme
Update: Radiohead have said comScore's figures are bobbins. "The figures quoted by the company comScore Inc are wholly inaccurate and in no way reflect definitive market intelligence or, indeed, the true success of the project." So there.
