The pay-what-you-want model was first implemented by the sanctimonious, environmental anarchists of Radiohead with their In Rainbows release. There have since been several attempts by musicians to test out similar models, but now the pay-what-you-want pricing model has been adopted by an independent games company. Wolfire Games is offering a download bundle of five classic indie games for whatever you can be assed to hand over.
The combined retail value of the games is $80, with Wolfire co-founder Jeffrey Rosen saying “It has sold far, far better than we expected.” In fact, by Tuesday the Humble Indie Bundle had made $956,278 from 106,704 contributors and “25% of people who acquired the bundle did so through P2P, not the company’s site (where it was DRM-free and available for download).” Wolfire have also benefited from new web traffic, more fans, and increased promotion (hello!).
But this, of course, means war. Our valued musicians are having a tough time as it is without indie games companies stealing their innovative business models. Expect Yorke, the brothers Greenwood, et. al to begin legal proceedings very soon. It’s just not the music industry without expensive lawsuits.
• Wolfire: http://www.wolfire.com
