All hail the rise and rise of consumer power
Howard Lake | 15 October 2007 | Blogs
Last week, we saw (according to some sources) the dawning of a new era in consumerism. I am referring (of course) to the release of In Rainbows, the new Radiohead album. Obviously, a major event in the world of music, but because of the manner of its release, it has taken on a much wider importance and significance.
Radiohead, as you will no doubt all be aware, are one of the biggest and most critically acclaimed bands in the world, and in their lead singer, Thom Yorke, have a spokesperson renowned for his strong beliefs and integrity.
Radiohead decided to make their new album available just as a digital download and pre-order CD boxset. Nothing too unusual there, however, what was remarkable was that one of the music industry’s most powerful bands decided that people could choose to pay exactly what they liked for the download.
So if you wanted it for free, or to pay 10p, or £1 or £10 you could. No problem, whatever sum you chose, the album was still yours.
The decision and the power – and by association, the trust – is all with the consumer. And it was for a product with global appeal, released without any caveats such as a requisite need for publicity or profile or PR.
The album became available last Wednesday and Time magazine quoted an A&R executive as saying ‘This feels like another death knell’. Weekly music magazine the NME said ‘It will deal a further blow to struggling retail outlets who have been cut out of the loop’.
However a reader survey found the average price paid by people was £7.19, relatively close to the usual iTunes album price of £7.99.
So what has this got to do with fundraising?
Well nothing directly, but indirectly I think, quite a lot.
It is yet another example of the shift of genuine power to the consumer – possibly a very significant one this time. Increasingly as consumers, we are getting to choose and dictate relationships with the commercial and media worlds in a way we never could before, and increasingly we are trusted to do so.
It is something that I believe we have, so far, been pretty reluctant to advocate in our own sector. I have seen very, very few (if any) genuine examples of two-way relationships with donors, where they really get to have any genuine influence or power over the relationship.
But it is coming. Inexorably. And perhaps we ought to be doing more to get ourselves ready.
Because for the words customer or consumer, you can simply replace them with the words donor or supporter, and we can be sure, their expectations are going to be the same.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.