In the spirit of putting art ahead of money, many museums have long embraced a pay-what-you-wish model, letting visitors determine a price based on their financial means and appreciation for what’s on the walls.

The band Radiohead adopted a similar approach when it released its 2007 album “In Rainbows,” allowing fans to download it for any amount they deemed fair.

But can that same pricing strategy work for what’s seemingly the most money-minded of all institutions: the bank?

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As part of its nationwide rollout in the coming weeks, GoBank will unveil a pay-what-you-wish checking account. Aimed at the mobile-centric, youthful market, the online-only bank will let customers decide each month just how large a fee to impose on themselves. In short, GoBank account holders will determine what GoBank is worth to them, paying a fee that ranges from zero to $9.

The idea is to make a statement about how GoBank differs from the mainstream, cost-conscious banks that have come to define the oft-maligned industry, says Steve Streit, chief executive officer of Green Dot, the prepaid debit-card provider that’s behind GoBank. “It’s this whole sense that somebody is messing with your money without your permission,” says Streit. “We wanted to make it so that the customers could choose.”

On top of that, Streit says, the policy “forces the bank to be a good bank.” He draws an analogy with the restaurant business: “If the waitress is surly, you won’t leave as good a tip.”

Bank offers pay-what-you-wish checking

The strategy is drawing a variety of reactions from marketing experts and banking industry professionals alike. On the plus side, says Steve Beck, managing partner of the banking consultancy firm cg42, is the fact that such an approach garners buzz — and buzz can equate to customers.

“In some ways, it’s putting their brand on the map,” says Beck.

On the negative: The pay-what-you-wish model is generally associated with organizations that have a social mission or mind-set, says Tad Hargrave, a marketing consultant in Edmonton, Alberta, who specializes in helping businesses target counter-culture-oriented consumers through his “marketing for hippies” program. When a bank embraces the donation-based model, says Hargrave, it could be seen as little more than a publicity stunt.

“I don’t get it,” says Hargrave.

Either way, the strategy comes with the obvious risk of too many customers opting to pay nothing. GoBank’s Streit says he doesn’t anticipate that, but he also says that GoBank, which is still in the beta phase, has a business model that’s not overly dependent on checking-account maintenance fees. Instead, the bank anticipates relying on income from ATM and other swipe fees, Streit says. (And since the bank already has a built-in infrastructure through Green Dot, startup costs are relatively low.)

In many ways, the GoBank initiative represents the convergence of two trends. For starters, the pay-what-you-wish model has been gaining popularity in recent years as an alternative pricing strategy for everything from yoga studios (New York-based Hosh Yoga advertises that “health and wellness is a right of life, not a luxury”) to restaurants. Even American corporations have been getting in on the act: The publicly traded Panera Bread restaurant chain has donation-based Panera Cares Community Cafes in St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago and Boston.

But GoBank’s initiative also speaks to another trend: the backlash that banks have faced as fees become more commonplace. (In 2008, 73% of banks offered free checking, according to Bankrate.com; in 2012, that figure was down to 39%.) In response, some upstart banks have tried to keep fees to a minimum or have offered other ways for consumers to save. In a similar vein to GoBank’s “name your price” model, Moven, a mobile-only bank, plans to offer a checking account that can be free — as long as customers refer other customers to the bank.

Moven founder and banking industry consultant Brett King says that financial institutions with newer platforms — think mobile or online — are well-suited to embrace newer pricing strategies. So while pay-what-you-wish might seem like a radical concept for a traditional bank, it’s actually quite logical for a next-generation one, says King.

A bank with a “different paradigm,” says King, “absolutely requires a different pricing.”

Of course, it’s not as if these new-school banks don’t charge anything. For example, in addition to ATM withdrawal fees, GoBank can levy a $1 fee for a balance inquiry and a 3% foreign transaction surcharge. It’s also worth noting that as a mobile-centric institution, GoBank doesn’t offer customers the traditional array of branch-based services.

Which is perhaps why a pay-what-you-wish model may still not work for everyone. And as GoBankingRates.com managing editor Casey Bond points out, there are still a few mainstream banks that offer free checking, especially if a customer agrees to certain terms, be it maintaining a minimum monthly balance or opting for paperless statements. “It’s pretty easy to get around those fees,” says Bond.