Hedgehog & Fox

I noticed last week on Mashable that the “final numbers” are in for Radiohead’s 2007 experiment, in which the band let people decide for themselves how much to pay for a digital download of it latest album, In Rainbows. In general, the view seems to be that the experiment was a big success with one of the main data points being 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’” (via Music Ally).”

I mentioned the Radiohead experiment more than a year ago, when it was in full swing, in Radiohead Free Association, so it seems only appropriate to come back to it now that there is some data on how it went. In the meantime, any number of myths have grown up around the band’s efforts, and there has been at least one very good blogosphere discussion about the pros and cons of the “free association” model.

I still have my doubts about how well a fully “free” model, or even a “pay what you want” model would work for most associations, whether it be for membership fees or, as I suggest in the previous post, educational offerings. But as a tool for thinking strategically about the value your organization offers, the Radiohead experiment remains very powerful - all the more so now that it appears to have been a clear success.

What I find most compelling about the Radiohead experiment is that by offering the “pay what you want” option - with “nothing,” of course, being one of the possible choices - the band really put its value proposition on the line. And in doing so - and here is the real lesson of the experiment, in my opinion - Radiohead likely increased its value to its core fans (by once again proving itself an innovator) while also increasing its engagement with hoards of potential fans who might very well never have had anything to do with Radiohead. That substantial income flowed from all of this is testimony to the fact that Radiohead actually had something of value to offer in the first place.

I suspect few associations will or should embrace a fully free model any more than Radiohead has. The band, afterall, stood to make a great deal of money off of physical sales of albums and concert appearances even as it embarked on its experiement. But I think that offering some subset of an organization’s value in a free, open, or “pay what you want” model is becoming essential for cultivating new members and customers as well as simply maintaining relevancy in a given field or industry.

What do you think? Is Radiohead on to something that might be relevant for your organization?

Jeff Cobb
Hedgehog & Fox

Can business models based on giving away content and allowing it to be re-mixed and/or re-used really work? Anyone who has been watching the Web closely over the past few years knows they can, but their are still plenty of doubters out there. It’s good to have some case studies to reference.

The video below (click here if you don’t see it) is a documentary by Frances Pinter and David Percy called Publishing Open Content. It features interviews with three entrepreneurs who have been successful with open approaches: Tom Reynolds from Random Acts of Reality,  Timo Hannay, of nature.com, and John Buckman, of Magnatune. (27:27 minutes)

If you don’t want to watch the full video, you can also view each interview indvidually:

• Tom Reynolds
• Timo Hannay
• John Buckman

It may seem a bit odd to throw this in while in the midst of posting a series about how to sell more e-learning, but one of the points these entrepreneurs make - and one I have also made in my Can Open Education Work for Associations series - is that open content and paid content are generally quite complementary.

Thanks to Open Education News for pointing out the posting about this on the Creative Commons blog.

Jeff Cobb
Hedgehog & Fox

When the hotel where you are staying asks you to re-use the towels in your bathroom, what do most people tend to do, and why? Dr. Robert Cialdini has some interesting answers.

Cialdini literally wrote the book on influence a decade or so ago on, and that book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, continues to, well, influence the work of leading managers, educators, marketers - basically, anyone who needs to persuade others as part of doing his or her job effectively.

I’ve written about Cialdini here before on Hedgehog & Fox, but last week I finally managed to listen to a talk he gave at the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce (RSA) in November 2007. This includes a great response - really a complementary discussion - by Louise Casey.

Whether you are already familiar with Cialdini or new to his work, recording of this talk offers a great deal of insight on how to persuade large groups of people to work towards a common goal - like, for instance, helping the environment by re-using their towels.

To access an MP3 of the talk, visit UChannel - a great resource for presentations on a variety of topics - or simply click the link below.

• Listen to or Download Cialdini Presentation 

The recording is a bit over an hour long, but it can be listened to in segments, and Cialdini’s main remarks are within the first 40 minutes.

Enjoy,

Jeff Cobb
Hedgehog & Fox

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