How Much Is That Song Worth to You?

Oct. 6, 2007 — -- As the record industry struggles to keep people buying music, one band is willing to let customers pay whatever they want.

The band Radiohead will soon be able to count the freeloaders by selling their new album directly to each fan for whatever price they want to pay, whether it's 15 cents or $15.

It's a gamble that experts say actually makes business sense where consumer loyalty is concerned.

"The real money comes from touring and merchandising," said Aram Sinnreich, a media professor at New York University, "and the way that you get people into arenas and get them to buy your t-shirts is by building a relationship based on trust and goodwill."

Essentially, he added, Radiohead is telling its fans, "Here's the music: You decide what it's worth."

But news of Radiohead's plan to trust its customers to set the price comes amid the first court punishment for illegal music downloading, which happens more than a billion times a month worldwide.

A jury in Minnesota found a 30-year-old Jammie Thomas guilty of illegally sharing Guns N' Roses and Journey online, and it ordered her to pay record companies $222,000 in damages.

It is highly unlikely the record labels will ever get that much money out of a single mother of two, but they seem happy to make her a public example.

"We have a program where we're trying to let people know that they're not anonymous and that they can be caught," said Cary Sherman, president of the Record Industry Association of America. "People think that if their online they can violate the law with impunity.

"When it first started happening," added Mike Mills, bassist for the band R.E.M., "people were so proud of being able to get something for free. And they'd come and tell me, 'I just downloaded.' I'd say, 'Well, give me your shoes.'"

But Mills sees both sides of the debate -- industry people losing jobs and unsympathetic fans who felt ripped off for years.

"I think people are happy to pay for it as a rule," Mills said, "as long as it's easy and convenient and not overly expensive. And again, there are always going to be some people who want something for nothing."