In a surprise announcement on their website, the band said "The King of Limbs", their eighth album, could be downloaded for £6 ($9, 7 euros) on Saturday.
In October 2007 Radiohead caused a major stir in the music industry when they told listeners they could pay whatever they wanted to download their album "In Rainbows".
At the time the website said "It's up to you" in place of a price.
A survey soon afterwards showed that about a third of people paid nothing for the downloaded album, with the average price being four pounds.
Some industry figures criticised the band, saying the precedent of allowing fans to pay what they wanted could be dangerous for artists trying to protect their interests at a difficult time.
Letting fans decide how much to pay was an interesting model but it was doomed because it felt too political. Anyone with a healthy common sense will be naturally distrustful if asked to pay to be principled... It didn't help much that, despite containing some very beautiful music, this was probably their worst album. I mean, say what you want about Pablo Honey but it was a financially successful record...
The basic problem with the music industry is that they have turned music into a rather expensive product... No, bands are not entitled to charge as much as they did back when production and distribution of records was somewhat expensive, the Internet really did change all that.
Musicians are certainly entitled to make a living off their work, but they need to understand the paying public will no longer support their lavish lifestyles, much less those of record company executives. However talented you may be as an artist, or not, it really should be live performances that earn you a living. Just as it has always been for musicians since the dawn of history.
I'm a big fan of Radiohead's music (obviously ;)) and will likely buy the new album, just as I have every single other one they've ever produced, but it will be an exception.
As most people who do listen to a lot of music I no longer pay for most of it (not downloading, just got a good enough connection I can use youtube as a jukebox). The age of rock stars is now gone and it's not all bad, musicians should be in it for the passion and not for financial gain. The loss for big world renowned groups has become a gain for small local scene gigs. The prevalent culture of celebrity worship may make it attractive to turn art into products, but once you've crossed that line you need to deal with the fact product prices are set by the market. And the market is saying people are no longer willing to pay so much for something they can get for free.
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