gizmodo.com — While Radiohead basked in adulation for dipping its toe into the digital future with the In Rainbows pre-release, it wasn't the first major act to toy with the internet, and wasn't making a real move toward disruption. Conversely, Saul Williams took a dive into the deep end with the Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust.
Nov 9, 2007 View in Crawl 4
thailand1972Nov 10, 2007
They're already out there on the internet using this model - have been for 10+ years - it doesn't work unless you've got publicity (you are right). This is only a new model for famous, established bands (Saul Williams got a massive publicity push from Trent Reznor). How many famous, established bands will there be after labels disappear?
dashingleechNov 10, 2007
That's not a bad model, and Eric Flint at Baen books has a number of supporting articles to this effect, regarding books obviously, for instance: <a class="user" href="http://baens-universe.com/articles/salvos8">http://baens-universe.com/articles/salvos8</a>What I don't understand is why someone hasn't come up with a haggling system yet. Before somebody points it out, I am aware of, though not an expert in, negotiation theory. (For a brief intro, see <a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negotiation_theory">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negotiation_theory</a> ).Yes, somebody can probably reverse engineer the algorithm with enough haggling steps, though varying the algorithm may even make that impossible. But that's not the point. Even if you know how to get it down to a certain value the quickest way possible, getting there will take the inconvenience of your time.For example, suppose it starts out with a "convenience" price, say $5 for an album or $0.99 for a song. It might vary with the artist or song popularity. If you want the song and the price is affordable to you, and you'd rather spend your time listening then haggling, you might accept the convenience price out of convenience. If you want to go lower, you have to click on a "haggle" tab, fill out an offer and probably a CAPTCHA form, and submit the offer. The haggling algorithm then makes a counter offer. You then repeat, with the inconvenience of filling out a new offer and CAPTCHA each time. The system might even have a built in delay for giving you the counter-offer and adjust that delay based on the amount you offer eahc time (again, following a negotiation theory type algorithm with adaptive time included). For example, if it's only slightly below their last offer, it'll respond quickly, if it's far below, it will respond slower but with a lower counter offer.You can eventually get it down to some minimum value, which might or might not be $0 and might again vary with the artist or song popularity. But it will take time, even if you have reverse engineered the algorithm and know what that minimum value is. Varying the algorithm and minimum value would make it much harder or impossible.It's possible that at some point you'll just give up because the price is still too high and the time isn't worth it. That's the nature of haggling. But the reverse is also true. If you are willing to pay the convenience price or near to it then you will generally give in quickly rather than keep haggling to get the price down. The trade between price and time/convenience is well known. It is why some people still prefer to buy music than download through P2P because finding the right music at the right quality can take time. (See, for instance, Eric Flint's articles mentioned at the top.)OK, so now tell me why this wouldn't work. Or if it would, why it hasn't been done. Or if it has been done, where, when, and how do I sign up?
alexkorovaNov 10, 2007
Some people actually want to support the artist they enjoy to listen to, like me. And I think a lot of other people as well.
cparkerNov 15, 2007
Like drowningfish, I paid £5 for the album, which came out to somewhere around $10.50 USD.
kasiulllaNov 21, 2007
I like this album, I don't like hip hop, but it's not a hip hop in actual meaning. It sounds realy good, I was not feel bored when I was listening this