Name A Price. Any Price.

Last year Radiohead introduced a revolutionary concept to the music industry. They put up their album In Rainbows not for free, not even discounted, but for whatever you were willing to pay. Their decision was analyzed tirelessly, including the theory that the music itself was worthless, but getting people to concerts was imperative. But when it came down to it, the band still made a lot off the venture, an estimated three million dollars. Plus, when the time came, they took the album down for download and sold the rights to the music to a major label for a physical release.
With Radiohead's success has come a new frontier for the music industry. Recently Girl Talk put their album Feed The Animals up in a similar manner, and a site called Aralie has been launched for independent artists to release their music in this way. But the question still remains, is this a viable sales approach, or only something that Radiohead can get away with? Think about it, it's much more tempting to download an album by a critically acclaimed artist than it is to do the same thing for something you've never heard of, much less pay for it given the option. But who knows? In a few years time, this could just be how the industry operates.
picture from music2dot0.com