The pricing structure doesn’t normalize from there: To get the physical album you’ll pay $82 and get much more than you bargained for – a “discbox” including a CD and vinyl version of the album, an additional CD and vinyl copy with other new songs, an art and photograph book, and art and photographs stored on the CDs as well.

Radiohead has embraced the state of the business like no one else.  It’s a bold move, one that only a band with its leverage could pull off.  Being Radiohead, we know quite well, the album will be groundbreaking in one form or another.  This time it’s not only the music that will break ground, however.  Radiohead has stolen the spotlight from the digital distributors, P2P networks, pirates, labels, and rip-off artists.  It’s their music, and they’ll do what they damn well please with it.  They’ve demolished the old rules and will be repaid handsomely for it, short or long term, in concert, via album sales, or both

Can you really imagine taking In Rainbow for free at this point?  Maybe, and that’s just what Radiohead is telling you: If you don’t think it’s worth anything, don’t pay anything for it.

But it’s not a model that would work for all bands.  Radiohead has earned Living Legend status through years of music making, which means traffic to the site will be well above what it would be for a lesser known group trying to imitate the model. 

In other words, no, music executives aren’t crapping their pants on today’s news, but Radiohead certainly has their attention.  It’s yet another example of a major group – the kind of group the industry relies on to sell millions of albums – taking the state of music by the horns and using the technology and resources available to them to manage their own path. 

If successful, expect other significant bands and artists to imitate.  Then music execs will have cause to worry.