Für große Bands:
Radiohead war mit dem 'Bezahl was du willst'-Experiment, dass sie mit 'In Rainbows' ausprobierten überaus erfolgreich. Music Ally zitierte 2008 den Publisher von Radiohead, Warner Chappell:
The publisher will also confirm that Radiohead had made more money before ‘In Rainbows’ was physically released than they made in total on the previous album ‘Hail To the Thief’. It should be pointed out that Radiohead’s existing digital income was of course low, because they had withheld licensing the likes of iTunes.
The topline figure, though, is that there were three million purchases of In Rainbows, including physical CDs, box-sets, and all downloads – including those from the band’s own website and from other digital music stores.
Das Entscheidende bei solchen Experimenten ist die Frage, wie die Ergebnisse sich vom üblichen Herangehen unterscheiden:
[..]according to Dyball there were a total of three million album purchases including the box sets, CDs and all downloads including iTunes and pay-what-you-like downloads via their official site. That’s an incredible number, given that their previous three albums sold in the low hundreds of thousands.
Es ist nicht wahrscheinlich, dass man ein solches Experiment mit ähnlich bombastischen Zahlen mehrfach wiederholen kann. Radiohead profitierten davon, die ersten zu sein, die so etwas probieren. Aber das heißt nicht, dass es kein Erfolgsmodell mit bescheideneren Zahlen sein kann.
Und: Man sollte diese Zahlen immer im Kopf behalten, wenn wieder jemand behauptet, dass Radiohead-Experiment sei ein Misserfolg gewesen, weil sehr viele Leute das Album kostenfrei heruntergeladen hätten ohne zu kaufen. Dieses Argument ist nämlich völlig irrelevant. Entscheidend ist, wie das Resultat im Vergleich zu anderen Herangehensweisen abschneidet. (siehe oben)
Für kleinere Bands und Musiker:
Der Vorwurf, dass solche Vorgehen nur für sehr bekannte Bands und Musiker funktioniert, wird oft vorgebracht, ist aber in der Praxis nicht haltbar.
Techdirt hat bereits letztes Jahr über diverse Bands geschrieben, die erfolgreich mit dem 'Bezahl was du willst'-Modell bei ihrem Merchandise gearbeitet haben:
The bands that have tried this found that this made fans much happier. Many fans paid more than list price (even when told the "recommended price") because they really wanted to support the band. Other fans, who wouldn't have been able to afford the merch at the list price, came away much happier because they were able to afford stuff. Those fans become committed lifelong fans who are much more willing to spend more money in the future as well.
Techdirt berichtet jetzt vom Jazzmusiker Jason Parker, der ebenfalls erfolgreich mit dem 'Bezahl was du willst'-Modell arbeitet:
It started with a "weekend experiment," late last year, where Parker reduced the required price of the download of his albums, to $0 from $5, and tweeted to his followers that they could pay whatever they wanted for it. He had considered setting a minimum of $1, but decided to see what happened if he went totally free.
Jason Parker ist sichtlich begeistert über das Resultat:
And what's even more impressive to me is that many of the people who downloaded the CD's actually paid for them, even though they didn't have to! In fact, I made more money from sales this weekend than in any other three-day period since the days right after the release of our latest CD, "No More, No Less". All while giving them away for free!
Mike Masnick fasst das Resultat bei Jason Parker zusammen:
The CDs, by themselves, are obviously not a huge moneymaker, but still, the revenue has gone from about $15/month to around $300/month. By giving it away for free and letting people pay what they want. Not bad.
Das mag in absoluten Zahlen nicht viel Geld sein. Aber entscheidend ist der relative Anstieg: es führte zu einem beträchtlichen Zuwachs an Einnahmen, als Parker von einem festen Preis zur freiwilligen Bezahlung wechselte.
Jason Parker hat auch noch auf weiteren Wegen mit freiwilliger Bezahlung experimentiert und gute Resultate erzielt. Im Detail kann man das auf Techdirt nachlesen.
Über die vermeintliche Gratiskultur und den Kontakt mit den Fans erzählte Jason Parker Techdirt:
I think it is about continually connecting with your fans and potential fans. For me the best thing has been to reach out to people on Twitter as a person, not as a musician. When they get to know me as a person, they are MUCH more likely to buy the CD. That's where the majority of my Bandcamp sales are coming from. It does take work to be consistently chatting with folks and finding new folks, but I see a direct correlation between how much I converse on Twitter and how many downloads I sell. It's a no-brainer.
I disagree that people "just want stuff for free". The way I see it, people will take for free what they have no connection to.