Free downloads what do you pay?

Posted by: Bruce Woodhouse on 06 August 2013

I've become a big fan of Bandcamp this year and a reasonable proportion of albums are available at 'name your price' i.e. you can have them free if you wish. Other stuff can be anything up to 'full' price.

 

I think a download should be cheaper than a physical CD copy-even when they offer quite good res FLAC files. I generally pay £5 for a full album when it is 'name your price' because that somehow seems fair. I think the Bandcamp model does give decent percentage to the artists but I guess you can never be sure.

 

What do others think?

 

Bruce

Posted on: 07 August 2013 by Deeply
Originally Posted by Bruce Woodhouse:
 I generally pay £5... 

Bruce

That's probably generous compared to what most people will pay TBH, but at the end of the day, it's whatever figure you're comfortable with; if you nab it for free, then there's nothing to feel guilty about.  The other thing to keep in mind is that compared to a physical media sale, there's little in the way of overheads, particularly with sites like Bandcamp, so even if you only give 70p, the artist gets 70p, whereas the physical media sale of £10 will still most likely result in a similar amount getting in their pocket.

Posted on: 08 August 2013 by migo

I really do not like the tendency that music should be cheap or free.

If we want to keep having good quality music being produced,we have to pay for it.

If we keep on trying to get the music for free then I think that a few years from now all you can buy is reissues and happy amateurs making a cd in their spare time,no new Keith Jarrett or Jan Garbarek,or new ECM type labels.

I will be happy to pay 20 euros for a good quality audiophile CD/LP/Download anytime if I know that I also contribute to the continuation of recorded music.