Danger ASCAP, Danger!
Harvey Danger, the band that hit mainstream paydirt with “Flagpole Sitta”, has just released their new album. “So what?” you say… Well, they”ve freely released it via their website.
Note that the band clearly states that this is not a “stick it to the man” move. They consider this a part of a marketing strategy – the end goal of which is to make some money. The free album is a way to get their product in front of more potential consumers than it would otherwise. Some very interesting and effective marketing, as I can promise you that I would not otherwise have heard this album. Not that the music is bad, but it’’s just not that good. The man-of-leisure has distguishing tastes, you understand.
It’s interesting to see the freeware model taking hold in markets other than software. My wife & I were talking the other day about the failed free bike programs in several cities during the early 90′’s. The obvious problem with that type of shareware model is that you are working with hard copys, i.e. there are a limited number of free bikes that can be distributed. When someone deletes a copy (steals it), that copy is gone from the total set of available copys. Eventually, that set will reach zero. The only successful shareware programs that utilizes hardcopy require strict monitoring and limited usage, like libraries. Digital media, on the other hand, has the capability of being infinitely copied. Note that this is not just a difference of distribution, but primarily of usage. Because of this difference, I can treat my copy of the new Harvey Danger album as mine. Limited usage is a fundamental axiom of any shareware program that involves physical medium. I can check-out a library book, but I can only keep it for a short time, and I can”t highlight it or take notes in it. I can do whatever the hell I want with my Harvey Danger album. For obvious reasons, limited usage “licenses” don”t fly. Most folks would rather fork out $25 for a book than borrow it from the library.
One of the rare markets that the limited usage model really works is movie rentals. It would be an interesting study to learn how many people rent movies vs. rent books. My guess is that we”ll find that even when balanced per capita, more movie watchers rent movies than book readers rent books – by a very large margin. I wonder why?
Anyway, I guess my point in this rant is that I hope to see many more new instances of the freeware distribution model. Something for nothing is good, and it allows the consumer to get a taste of a company’’s products and services prior to making a financial commitment to them for whatever it is that the free offering is bait for.
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