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Continuing the free legal music giveaway trend is Coldplay with their album Left Right Left Right Left. Turns out, the concept for bands to give away music for free makes a lot of sense.
Spending a fraction of what it normally would to market a new single from a new album, Coldplay landed tons of positive media attention, let people know they have a new single and a new album, got people to listen to the new single and generated lots of goodwill among its fans, while possibly minting new ones.
Wired editor Chris Anderson recently wrote about the rise in “freeconomics” in his magazine, and it will be the topic of his next book, due out next year. “Once a marketing gimmick, free has emerged as a full-fledged economy,” he writes. “Offering free music proved successful for Radiohead, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and a swarm of other bands on MySpace that grasped the audience-building merits of zero.”
We say “Coldplay - good on ya!”
