Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing just posted about a new song from Spinal Tap: “Saucy Jack.”
Disclosure: I’m a huge fan of Spinal Tap, and the idea that we’re getting new offerings from this band two decades after the world was introduced to the concepts of “11” and two-foot monoliths from Stonehenge makes me hopeful that perhaps we’ll even see that Buckaroo Banzai sequel. One can hope, people.
Now, it’s true that it doesn’t cost any money to download “Saucy Jack,” but I want to quibble ever so much about the use of the word, “free.” The first thing you’re hit with when you go to the download page is a fairly sparse page with fields for name, email address, and zip code.
We live in an information age. Information is valuable (just ask Google). My personal information is VERY valuable (to me, anyway). So, for this to be called a “free” download presumes that you’re limiting the cost to strictly monetary terms, and it implies that my personal information is about as valuable as a used tissue.
I completely understand this information is requested: consumer profile, demographic, marketing reserach, yadda yadda yadda.
But I hit that download page and went, “Meh. Maybe later.” Which is to say, “not bloody likely at all.”
Instant gratification turned to mild annoyance. A free download became a minor timesink (compounded by the time it took me to write this post). Lost opportunity all the way around.
So, here’s my question: is the consumer information gathered from the download page more monetizable than the fandom buzz and additional peer-to-peer marketing generated by a truly, anonymous, free download?