Kaiser Chiefs introduce revolutionary business model for digital music

British rock band Kaiser Chiefs have completed a new album, titled 'The Future Is Medieval'. To market this album, the band has developed an entirely new and out-of-the-box strategy. Last Friday, June 3, the band posted twenty tracks on their website and now leave it to the public to choose their ten favourites from the list. The full album is ten tracks, but not every fan will select the same tracks. Additionally, you can design your own cd-cover. This makes every version of The Future Is Medieval completely unique. The record costs £7.50 (8.44 Euros), but customers can earn their money back by offering their personalised version of to others for resale. A revolutionary concept that will probably be attractive to the young fan-base of the Kaiser Chiefs.

The customized album perfectly meets the needs of today's Internet generation, since these consumers are used to have a wide range of options to choose from, the like tailor made products that are readily available online and - last but not least, they pay next to nothing for this product, at the end of the day. This business model from the Kaiser Chiefs has the potential to change entire music industry. The band earns a fair revenue from their digital music sales while, at the same time, the end user can obtain the product for free if he succeeds to resell his customised CD. Furthermore, the band generates a greater pool of potentially paying customers, as every purchase means several extra re-sales.

The idea comes from Kaiser Chiefs singer Ricky Wilson and his friend Oli Beale, a well-known copywriter in the advertising world. "Anyone with basic skills can download every album illegally and it becomes increasingly difficult to make young people pay for content they can get for free online. That’s why we had to come up with something new. Once you’ve sold eight copies of your personal version, you even make profit."

Kaiser Chiefs set up a new webshop for fans that wish to sell their album. They even make digital banners and posters available to help them advertise. Per copy sold, the customer receives one pound (1.13 Euros) back. A brilliant idea, that allows both the fans and the producers to benefit, along with the band themselves. Because the public itself can make money, Wilson hopes that they will be less tempted to distribute the content for free on the Internet. "Anyway, Kaiser Chiefs still gets paid royalties and the record company is compensated too, so in that sense, nothing changes," says the bands manager James Sandom in The Financial Times. "The only difference is that you as a consumer can become a bit of a record retailer."

Sources: Financial Times, De Morgen, Kaiser Chiefs