Would You Pay $80 For a 95 Page PDF "Keepsake" of Your Favorite Band?
The Swedish rock band "Europe" has been on my CD shelf since I was little even though it's not among my top favorite bands anymore. Still, the initial joy was there when I received a newsletter from them a few days ago. During the last tour they had a photographer with them documenting the trip and this was now available as a 95 page PDF download described to have "135 high-resolution, printable images, documenting the band as they roll from city to city". The e-mail didn't say anything about price, so as I clicked the link I wasn't sure if I'd find a free download or if I had to pay a little for the pleasure of this tour book.
As the page loaded my jaw dropped to the floor. 50 Euro was the price they asked for this download, which translates to about $80 USD. I figured it had to be some sort of a joke, but it soon hit me they were serious. Another thing that really made me wonder what they were thinking was the description on the download store: "IN: EUROPE is a collector's keepsake offered exclusively for download from the band's MP3 store, and is not something you will want to miss!". Can you really say that a PDF file is a keepsake? Is there any real value in having a book that you either need to print or sit by the screen to enjoy?
WWTRD...? Read on to find out
So, what would Trent Reznor do? Or more precisely, what DID he do? He and his band Nine Inch Nails were recently featured in media for offering parts of their latest albums Ghosts I-IV for free. In his case the free download gives you 9 DRM free tracks and a 40 page PDF. For $5 the download includes all 36 tracks from the four albums and you can download them in both FLAC and Apple Lossless in addition to 320kbps MP3. $10 gives you a 2CD + booklet on top of the digital download. To get up as far as what Europe is asking you have to go for the Deluxe Edition: For $75 you will get the 2 audio CD's, a data DVD with all songs as multi-track (for remixing), a Blu-Ray disc with 24bit 96Khz audio, a printed 48 page photo book and of course the standard FLAC/MP3/Apple Lossless downloads, PDF file and wallpapers/icons++. All that for a price that is still lower than what Europe is asking for a PDF file alone.
Sufficient to say that when I see what fans of other bands get for their money, I'm rather perplexed what my band is offering me. My shock is shared by other fans on the band's official forum and even though many have dug deep in their pocket to afford this, there are people who are unable or unwilling to lash out that much for a download - with good reason. A PDF file is not a keepsake and it never will be. Yes you can print it, but as one of the forum members said the images looked like they were coming from Google Images and you might as well print pictures from there. If it was a hard cover book with really good content it might have been worth the money, but this simply doesn't cut it, Europe!
The whole episode got me thinking: is this the future of the music industry? In the last year several big online stores like play.com and amazon.com have started selling music downloads without DRM and made a profit on it. The price is still a bit high on some of the music stores (considering you don't get a "keepsake"/CD here either) but at least they dropped the DRM and thereby made the transaction easier. Even though this PDF release seem to be DRM free from the reports I've gotten from people who have bought it the price is simply way too high. Compared to Nine Inch Nails the Europe fans get part of what the free download contains for NIN, but at a price that's even higher than the incredibly luxurious Deluxe Edition of the NIN release.
A member of the forum also pointed out that concert ticket prices have increased dramatically over the last years while the number of people wanting to go to a concert has also increased. Pirating music have given bands fan bases they would normally just have dreamed of and seeing ticket prices and content like this being priced that high seems to me like a way for the music industry to take advantage of this fact and squeeze every last cent out of the loyal fans. Some of the fans in this instant said that they wanted the tour book, but simply couldn't afford it. It's the same way with concert tickets and supporting your band might very soon be a matter of money rather than availability.
It seems to me that even though DRM is starting to lose ground, we're still at the beginning of the real war with the music industry. After years of complaining about pirating hurting their profits, they still fail to see what close to every single person on the planet has realized: You cannot make good profit on trying to sell stuff at prices people aren't willing to pay. Give the music lovers a reason to bring out their wallet instead of continentally pushing them away in desperate attempts to make more money. People are willing to pay, the music industry just have to provide something people are willing to pay for.
Comments
Derek B on April 28, 2008 2:39 PM
If Chevelle were offering that, I would jump on it in an instant, but only if they were exclusive pics. You can usually find live pics all over the place, or buy copies for cheaper from photographers.
Evropa Vniversalis on April 28, 2008 4:35 PM
It's a ripoff, plain and simple. Well see plenty such attempts now that the industry is finally waking up to the fact that even the slowest consumers out there can only be fooled by DRM once.
NIN isn't my cup of tea, but they seem to have found a fair pricing structure that'd I'd be happy to pay for stuff I like.
Controllerboy on April 29, 2008 10:57 AM
50 euro for something like that, a joke. Will prolly be on warez sites in an instant, lol.
Zoodar on April 29, 2008 11:24 AM
I don't think it's that expensive. Maybe for a PDF, but if it was a printed book then it would've been cheap.
"Can you really say that a PDF file is a keepsake? Is there any real value in having a book that you either need to print or sit by the screen to enjoy?"
I totally agree to this. Since the pictures are exclusive I think it's a rather stupid idea.
Dave on July 10, 2008 8:38 PM
Ummm...Europe? They would have to *pay me* $80 to take their silly .pdf file. Although I really can't believe there's still a "they" to discuss...how could this group still be together and not have starved to death? I guess it's that sweet Scandinavian social safety net that allows hair band members to continue their chosen occupation two decades after anyone could possibly care.