By now you’ve probably read about Radiohead’s novel approach to selling its new record. After Hail to the Thief completed their obligation to Capitol, the band is releasing their new record on their own and giving fans a choice:

  1. Pay whatever you want for a digital download of the record or
  2. Pay 40₤ ($82) for a deluxe box set that will include both vinyl and CD versions of the disc plus extra tracks, artwork and photographs.

I thought Techdirt did a nice job summing up the appeal and common sense apparent in this approach:

Rather than just offering up the content, they’re also trying to give people a reason to actually buy something else. In this case, it’s a “discbox,” which will include the new album on both CD and vinyl, as well as an additional CD of seven extra songs and photos, artwork and lyrics. The whole thing will be packaged in a nice container. In other words, the band is following in the footsteps of folks like Trent Reznor, in realizing that the music is promotional for other stuff — and you can still sell stuff if you make it worthwhile. In this case, Radiohead isn’t really selling the “music.” After all, you can get that for free. They’re selling the full collection of stuff that comes with the music. Funny how it’s the musicians, and not the record labels, who seem to realize that adding value and getting people to pay for it is a business model that beats suing fans.

I didn’t bother blogging about it yesterday, since it was all over the net, but tonight I thought I’d share my buying process with you.

First, the ability to name your own price is great, but you have to sacrifice the comfort of buying through a trusted intermediary, such as Emusic, iTunes, or Amazon. Radiohead doesn’t make this much easier for you, because the actual transaction isn’t completed on their in rainbows site. Instead, you enter your financial information into secure.xurbiaendless.com. This site also appears to be a Radiohead site (see this official poster), but you still have to guess a bit. And adding the word “secure” to it doesn’t make it any more reassuring. For their part, Radiohead addresses security in a FAQ:

Is ordering from you on the Internet safe and secure?
Generally it is just as safe to order online as it is to pay using your credit or debit card in a shop. This site uses a Thawte Security Certificate, which guarantees that we are who we say we are.

My only other quibble was with the payment site’s CAPTCHA security measure, which didn’t work at all in Firefox. I had to use IE. It’s true that Radiohead have never made usability or obviousness a hallmark of their Web design, but it’s weird that a band so concerned with the effects of mass-market technology and groupthink would force me to use Microsoft.

Anyhow, once I used the evil browser, I was able to purchase my download for a measly 2₤ (about $5). And the Verified by Visa security (which normally annoys me) made me feel a bit better about the security.

So, how much would you pay?

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