10.01.2007

in_rainbows

Since I have such an interest in novel ways of marketing CDs, I had to make a brief comment about Radiohead’s new album, “In Rainbows.” First, I should say that I have no loyalty or interest in Radiohead for the most part, but that may change now. Radiohead announced yesterday that their new album will be available for download on October 10th, and a special CD box set will be available later in the year. What makes this insanely unique is that Radiohead is letting YOU CHOOSE THE PRICE! This is phenomenal! I am so impressed with their self-confidence and trust in fans, that I will undoubtedly purchase these MP3s. I haven’t decided what I will pay, but it will probably be in the 5 to 7 dollar range; since I believe that purely digital music should be about half the price of a physical CD.
I’ve seen this technique work first hand during my undergrad entrepreneurship class. For one class, we were sent out on the streets of State College with $40 per group and were asked to make as much money as possible in an hour… any way possible. Our group decided to buy roses to sell for $2 or $3 each. After some time of being frustrated and shot down, we decided to approach people with the roses and just ask for a donation. The response was much better and on average we probably received about $3 per rose… with some people giving only a buck and others $5. The latter method was less aggressive and people were more willing to participate. This is essentially the same idea that Radiohead is doing and I am very interested and excited to see how it turns out for them.

Seattle Escapade (and what not)

So… it’s been three weeks since my last post and looking at that post (“flying salmon action!!!”), I suppose I WAS quite excited about this year's fantasy football season. However, the picture to the right is more symbolic as to what is really happening to my fantasy team this year. But, I digress… so… yeah… I went to Seattle last week for a conference. Really good times. I was very impressed with all of the nice folks in the town. I met some really great people and drank some exceptional beer. Unfortunately, when I arrived in town, Ohio State just defeated Washington. Therefore, I had to deal with some cocky Buckeyes, but my Gator/PSU allegiance put me on the good side of Husky fans. On Sunday, I got to watch the Steelers’ game at 10:00AM… pretty sweet. I didn’t know what to do with myself the rest of the day. But probably the highlight of the trip was going out with some British guys I met at the conference. They were absolutely ridiculous. We had a few beers at this reception for the conference, but then it spilled out into downtown UDub. The beer selection was really fabulous. Every bar had only one light beer on tap (like Miller Lite or whatever), then the rest were a local selection. I drank far too much beer in the few days I was there. But luckily I had the state of mind to document my experience. Below is a list of all of the brews I tried while I was there. The most notable was the nitrogenated Hale’s Cream Ale and the Maritime Pacific Imperial IPA. I also put a few pictures online if you feel like checking those out.

Besides the trip… as usual I have a few comments about other items I’ve come across… so here they are:


- Don’t be cop hatin’ because of UF’s “don’t tase me, bro” idiot. He’s a Tom Green wannabe and has done stunts like this in the past. He even has his own web site, but I’m not including the link to promote his stupid, attention-grabbing, annoying ass.

- I found this outstanding web site documenting pretty much every football helmet design ever used. It has historic NFL, college, XFL, Canadian… whatever. It’s extremely impressive and worth checking out.

- I thought the story about the Oklahoma State coach going off on a sports writer to be mildly amusing and barely news-worthy. However, the first 11 seconds of this interview with the writer and editor are priceless. The editor inexplicably continues to stare at the camera doing his best Rock impression for about 7 seconds after the interview got rolling.

- It seems that more and more people I know are getting some sweet HDTVs, which makes me exceedingly jealous. But I did some research a while ago about getting HDTV over-the-air for on my laptop... but I backed down. However, I found a few sights that can help you get over-the-air HDTV for FREE (1, 2). I know that most of you who have a freakin' sweet ass TV can probably afford a good digital/satellite package... but I still think it's good information.
On a side note... how shitty is TNT HD?! Since when is like Tombstone, Mr. Deeds or Something's Gotta Give in HD? I suppose NBA games will be... but that's it! I think it's false advertising and there should be a daily quota of HD content to be called "HD"... and so does Mark Cuban.

- Speaking of Mark (and don't worry I'm not going to start discussing Dancing with the Stars), but he (and others) might have finally convinced me to go Apple. But not quite yet.