Radiohead have just released their latest album, In Rainbows, as a download-only record.
What is really cool, though, is that there is no fixed price - you pay what you think it's worth. Which can be nothing.
Now, this is an interesting experiment, and I hope it works.
The way I see it is that the old-fashioned recording industry model is no longer sustainable. The internet means that the strangle-holds that the big record companies held over artists (mainly marketing and distribution) no longer work so well. If you can afford to record it, you can now distribute it for next to nothing. If you have a fan base or a good viral marketing idea, then marketing is a small cost too.
The other thing is that (and this is a guess) Radiohead are probably not in hock to a record company for this album. They are hopefully distributing it fairly directly, dealing only with an internet specialist like cachefly or akamai, which means that the only real cost is that distribution bandwidth. If they're pocketing the remainder, then me paying the five or six quid that I think is reasonable for an album means that they're probably making more money than if they did the traditional CD.
Of course, this all hangs on whether the average punter actually ponies up the cash, and I'd like to think that enough will do so to make this work.
So go on, download the album, give it a whirl, and if you like it, go back and buy it again to give them some money. Show the record companies that overpriced CD's and DRM-encumbered downloads are no longer necessary, or acceptable.
Oh, and if you do try the album and don't like it, just delete it. As an artist, I reckon it's better that someone who otherwise wouldn't have bothered listening to your work actually downloads your music for free and listens to it than never hears it at all, so that's cool too :)