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How does pay-what-you-want pricing work, and who sets the minimum?

The four pricing settings on a Studio release, the chart reporting floors that apply on chart-eligible campaigns, how price changes are handled mid-campaign, and how exclusives are priced.

Written by Andrea Torres

You set the minimum price and, if you want, a suggested price. Fans then choose what to pay at or above your minimum. Roughly one in five fans pays above the minimum.

The pricing options

You have four settings to work with. Pay what you want sets a floor and lets fans go higher. Minimum price is the least a fan can pay to get access. Suggested price is the amount that appears at checkout as the default. Fixed price sets one price that every fan pays. Most campaigns run pay-what-you-want with a suggested price. That keeps the entry price low enough for most fans, and lets the fans who want to pay more go ahead and do it.

Chart floors

Chart floors set a hard minimum on chart-eligible campaigns. Under applicable chart rules, your minimum cannot drop below the reporting floor. That floor is $7.99 for US digital albums that can be reported to Luminate, and £5.49 for UK chart-reported campaigns. EVEN applies the right floor during setup, so your pricing stays above the eligibility threshold.

Changing price mid-campaign

You can change the price once a campaign is live. On a chart campaign the change goes through your EVEN team, who notify the chart bodies and re-check the floor. The tracklist and track count lock when pre-orders open and cannot change.

Access content pricing

Exclusives attached to the release carry their own minimum prices. A fan who pays a higher amount unlocks everything priced at or below what they paid. On chart campaigns only the initial album checkout can be reported as a qualifying redeemed album sale, so what you charge for add-ons does not affect eligibility.

Where pricing is decided

You decide pricing campaign by campaign, rather than once across a whole catalog. Pay-what-you-want brings the campaign direct revenue alongside streaming, and it gives fans a reason to buy before release day. Your EVEN team configures the model during setup, and nothing publishes without your sign-off.

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