Prix Libre: An Introduction to the Gift Economy of DIY Punk

“Free as in freedom, not as in free beer”—Richard Stallman

Prix Libre, from French is usually translated in English as Pay-what-you-want (PWYW), or Pay-what-you-can (PWYC), rather than a literal Free price.

It is a term that is used to describe the way in which people pay for a particular item, based on a fair price reflecting the person/s perceived value.

It has to be understood within other ways to put a price on something—free, as the 1960’s San Francisco Diggers advocated, at cost of production, or with a sliding scale from either of those to a supporting profit, and of course for profit.

The first radical use of Prix Libre I experienced was in the small town of Tarbes, France, at the Celtic Pub, a venue where shows were all Prix Libre. At the entrance there was a box for donations that also had a sign explaining the implications, you are paying for your drinks at the bar and you are paying for the concert with your donations in the box. It mentioned that through this system they were making shows affordable, but an absence of donations would mean an end to the gigs, look negatively for the reputation of the venue and result in bands no longer taking the detour to play in the town.

In a way, they were explaining how the pricing puts the responsibility of people, supporting the network of touring musicians, along with keeping it accessible at the same time. On average, it means that you may have less money at the end of the month, but keep the door open to people who couldn’t afford a set price. The bartender would then remind everyone of the concept and pass around the hat-shaped box. The same principle was going on in the anarchopunk scene and squat scene, in other cities like Grenoble, Marseille, Toulouse, or Lille.

It’s around the same time I started to hang around more bands with a radical practice of this concept, like the anarchist hip-hop band l’Oiseau Mort, the first band I’ve got records for Prix Libre (though their last record was sold for a fixed price of €4.60, which is exactly the production cost), or emo-crust Bökanövsky, their merch would be sold for pay-what-you-can. Some years later, as the bands from our label were one by one transitioning to its use, we decided to switch all of the records, cassettes, zines and patches to pay-what-you-can.

If it ain’t cheap it ain’t punk

From the beginning in 2010, we had been making things following the motto of “if it ain’t cheap, it ain’t punk”, in which cheap meant affordable. It was a bit difficult to sustain it as we tried to keep prices as low as possible whilst still giving away or discounted so that people who couldn’t afford it would still get our stuff.

In the fall of 2015, everything was for Prix Libre, with or without a short explanation depending on the type of places and their previous exposure to the concept, more than a pricing in itself, it was a matter of sharing the practice and to encourage others to do so.

Other practices taken from the anarchist milieu would be degendering of the language and use of gender-neutral pronouns, practicing veganism and encouraging folks to pee sitting down in order to keep shared bathrooms clean and accessible.

After one and a half years of strict use of the free pricing, I would say it has more ups than downs. On the upside it keeps our stuff affordable no matter the context, currency and state of the inflation.

On the downside, and especially on tour, the notion of support can easily be avoided and there were a few examples in which it ended with full bags of merch traded for some small change. In the end, it sort of evens out as the pricing gets known and often, the average amount of money is bigger. Maybe because the bands are better and attract more people now than five or two years ago?

We printed “don’t pay more than €8” on some older releases, some sold for €5, when it’s not outrageous in some punk & hardcore circles to buy an LP for €15. On average, we’re able to get money back quicker to help other folks release their stuff more easily. If we leave the distro unattended with a jar for the donations, the practice of pay-what-you-can often lead to having to engage in conversations, asking about the pricing, about the means and process of production to determine how much they want to pay and demystifying the idea along the way.

On any given day, I would say that one of my ideals would be to help in implementing anarchist practices into the mainstream, though in real life it often means co-optation. In the third issue of the Grenoble collective anarchopunk zine Maximum Cuvette, there was an article about the economic concept that gave a few examples of the use of Prix Libre by cultural administrations, in which free shows became shows on voluntary and encouraged donations as Prix Libre, and also gave the example of the bandcamp.com platform, which offers digital downloads for pay-what-you-can, although not translated as Prix Libre on its French version.

Many economists have argued some benefits of using it in the virtual (and legal) businesses, but none really touched the social functions that come with using this system, meaning the anarchistic ideas may too easily be removed and the advantages salvaged. While I’m still not exactly sure when this form of payment became commonplace within the DIY punk scene and grassroots leftist movement in France, it was in October 2007 that it broke into the international mainstream with the pop band Radiohead’s single “In Rainbows”.