Economists everywhere are no doubt scratching their heads, wondering why in the world a bunch of consumers would pay more for something they can get for free. Apparently this goes against everything you learned in Microecon class. As this editorial puts it, the rational people were the ones paying “0.00″ at checkout for Radiohead’s latest album.

But “In Rainbows” did pretty well for itself, despite having a list price of zero bucks. A third of downloads paid just that… $0. But some people paid over 20 dollars for it. One company shelled out $1,000 (even if it was just for the PR).

People tip all the time, so giving a little more than we have to isn’t a new concept. But what exactly drives that attitude of giving something when you could have given nothing?

It could be the satisfaction of stickin’ it to the man. Record labels don’t exactly have the best reputation at the moment, what with their stars dropping like flies. Some people suggest that maybe being able to bypass the industry was what fueled the $8 average price of their album. Then again, maybe the fans just like the idea of giving Radiohead more money.

This is largely a personal question that can’t be answered with raw economic theory. Only you know why you did it. But the bottom line is that the industry is based on economical laws, and if the fans can find a way to re-invent a new business plan then we may see a revolution yet.

It’s becoming more and more common.  For example, on February 12, 2010, Comcast will cease to be.  In its place will be Xfinity.  No, that’s not a typo; that’s the company’s new name.  In an attempt to escape years of bad publicity due to poor public relations, poor customer service, bad channel selection, and generally […]

Lord Howe Island is a beautiful tropical island some 370 miles off the coast of Australia.  It was declared a World Heritage Site back in 1982 thanks to its pristine beauty and the wide variety of rare animals found there.  However, Lord Howe Island has a bit of a rat problem.  In 1918, a freighter […]

It took 27 years, but something has finally knocked the finale of MASH off the top of the TV ratings pyramid.  When the show, starring Alan Alda as a war-weary, wisecracking doctor in the Korean War, went off the air in 1982, it was watched by 105 million people throughout the United States.  Despite population […]

The ongoing soap opera surrounding the world’s tallest building just continues to swell.  The building, as you might remember, opened a month ago to great fanfare, despite not being completely booked up with tenants and not actually being finished.   Now, with the first tenants scheduled to move in this month, the building’s only officially […]

Right now, it’s snowing outside.  All day yesterday, I listened to people who were planning on running out to the stores to pick up three things:  milk, eggs, and bread.  Any time bad weather hits, or threatens, or is even suspected, the first three things anyone picks up are milk, eggs, and bread, as if […]

If you’ve always wanted to own a relic of the Cold War, a one-of-a-kind item was recently auctioned off.  The town of Skrunda, in what is now Latvia, is not on any map.  During the Cold War, it was known as Skrunda-1, and was one of Russia’s secret cities, serving as a Soviet radar base […]

Taking a page from the playbook of one Sho Kosugi, when a disgruntled former graduate student had a score to settle, he didn’t go for a gun.  No sir or ma’am, firearms are for fools.   Kshitij Shrotri went for the more civilized implement of death, the sword.  Police say he went back to Georgia […]