Radiohead released their new album, In Rainbows, for digital download on the internet. The catch? They let you pay what you want.

I decided to pay £1.00. You can pay £0.00 if you want. (There’s a £.45 credit card processing fee if you do decide to pay something.)

At this point, they’re not releasing it on a record label, although they will have a “discbox” including artwork, vinyl copies, and bonus tracks available for purchase by December.

There’s coverage all over the place about this album release. The New York Times has an excellent article (Radiohead, Big Enough to Act Like a Baby Band)

The interesting thing is that other artists have begun indicating intentions to follow Radiohead’s lead by bucking the traditional industry and releasing albums themselves or through other means. Nine Inch Nails, fronted by Trent Reznor, has ended their record label relationship and he states, “it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as i see fit and appropriate.”

Two other UK bands, Oasis and Jamiroquai, are also contemplating direct-to-the-public album releases rather than releasing their new material through a traditional record label. Madonna is leaving her record label and making a $100 million deal with major concert promoter Live Nation.

Lefsetz (“Radiohead Tip Jar“) and many others are already decrying the imminent changes the Radiohead release and these other artists are going to have on the industry.

With CD sales plummeting this year and several major acts already pursuing other means of distributing their musical wares, the industry has a lot to be afraid of and consumers have a lot to look forward to. Anything that will get more music to more people for less money is probably a good thing (no, I don’t count P2P, but in a way that’s what started the revolution with Napster at the turn of the millennium). Unless the music sucks. But that’s the real glory of freeing up the music and making it cheaper: the people decide what’s good and popular, but you can decide for yourself without spending thousands of dollars on a record collection.

Update: Read a review of “In Rainbows” by Drew Beringer (AbsolutePunk.net). Also, the Wall Street Journal asks the question “Is Radiohead’s Move Revolutionary?”

Update 2: Some estimates are saying that Radiohead made $6 – $10million off the digital release of “In Rainbows.”

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