Radiohead's new business model:

What I found extremly interesting (and encouraging) was the number of bloggers on the NY Times page that noted the superior audio quality of vinyl, in their comments. Surely they can't all be audiophiles?
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It's brilliant, there are probably millions of guys like me who would never shell out full fare for a Radiohead album, but plenty willing to pay a buck or two for the download.

I think for what you get the $80 Is very reasonable. I of course speak out as one of their Biggest fans. They are an 'Indie' band and are not a 'rock' group as The Nu Yoik Times have said, nor are they In the same league as the Supergroup the Strolling Bones or Prince even? Is he still around? or Is he still TAFKAP?
Could this pc download malarky be the beginning of the end of the over the counter cd?

Could the comparison to Prince be because Prince recently gave his newest album away for free in the UK?

Brilliant move. What nobody mentions is that very little band revenue comes from their recorded output. The record labels are only a "bank" to the band--fronting the initial recording costs against future revenue. All studio production goes against their royalties in the traditional record model, which in Radiohead's EMI case, net revenue remaining is then deluded six ways by each band member.

Bands make the bulk of their revenue from live touring and merchandise, plus any endorsement revenue, song placement or songwriting royalties. Albums generally bring pennies to each artist, and with peer-to-peer networking, the days of sales exceeding 5 million units are gone.

This move is brilliant. They bypass any label and only have to cover production costs. They own their own studio and recording rig, so now it is a pure time play--whatever revenue gained must cover this and only this. No overhead--all the buzz comes from the novelty of the promotion which is generating huge publicity. The two dollars listed above would far exceed any royalty. Zero is just a lost leader for the tours to follow.