Radiohead claim their groundbreaking decision to offer their latest album, In Rainbows, for any price consumers choose is paying off, proving the commercial viability of their direct-to-fans model.

read the details … Radiohead gamble pays off – Telegraph

Buy the new Radiohead album — In Rainbows — digital tracks directly from the band. Pay what you want.

You can even get In Rainbows on vinyl LP if you wish. Let the marketplace decide, not record executives.

Next …

Less than a month after publicly calling executives at his music label unprintable names, rocker Trent Reznor has signaled that his days of working for a record label are over.

The only official member of the band Nine Inch Nails, Reznor announced Monday that the group is now a “free of any recording contract with any label.” Representatives from Reznor’s music label, Universal Music Group, were unavailable for comment.

Reznor provided few details in a note on the band’s Web site about how the group plans to proceed, but his announcement raised hopes among fans that he will follow the lead of British band Radiohead, which last week announced it would handle sales and distribution for its upcoming album, In Rainbows without the backing of a label.

Two well-known bands taking to the Internet to sell their own albums is not yet a trend, but it certainly must be a cause for concern in the halls of the four major music companies. The question raised by the defections is whether well-established performers need big music conglomerates in the digital age.

First Radiohead…now Nine Inch Nails bids adieu to music label

I’m keeping my fingers crossed this is a trend.

This is exactly what the idiots at the Record Industry Association of America deserve for suing their customers. ($222,000 for sharing old Foreigner tracks on-line – what?)

See what Xeni Jardin has to say – Radiohead lets fans pick price for new album