As many people already know, the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, was released exclusively as a download this past week with the consumer’s ability to pay whatever they want for it (or pay nothing at all). Radiohead is one of my favorite bands, so of course I jumped on the opportunity to hear some new material, and I wasn’t disappointed at all. The album is great. Thom sounds so confident in his voice, it is only getting better and better. The songs are very interesting in their structure, mainly very linear as opposed to sectional, something that we have come to expect from Radiohead but is still generally unorthodox. Some of my early favorites include “Nude” (which is a song they’ve had lying around for a while now) and “Reckoner.” The opening track, “15 Step,” once again proves Radiohead’s mastery of making 5/4 time sound natural.

The controversial element of the album is, of course, the price. Allowing the fan to choose what they pay is certainly a revolutionary concept, yet coming from Radiohead is not particularly surprising to me. Not only do they have the resources and wealth to be able to do it, experimentation is now their calling card musically so it only seemed natural for it to carry over into other elements of their career after they fulfilled their major label contract.

I have paid a lot of money to see Radiohead live three times. I legitimately own every full-length CD they’ve released (plus about three CD-Rs of unreleased and rare stuff). I am a true fan of the band who has supported them all the way and will continue to support them. And you know how much I paid for the new album? Nothing. And despite what some people seem to think, I don’t feel the least bit bad about it.

Seriously, I don’t see any problem with it, yet I got into a discussion or two with people who couldn’t believe I wouldn’t pay a dime for the album. Are you kidding me? This is a band that obviously doesn’t need any money (otherwise, logically, they would make us pay a minimum). There are also plenty of people who are willingly paying money for this download (including one person I saw who was paying $100). That’s great, I love that some people are doing that and the band will still make a ton of cash from this release. But if someone offers me something for free, I’m not going to feel the least bit bad about taking it for free. If you met the band backstage and they said, “hey, here’s our new CD,” would you say “oh cool, hey, let me at least give you five bucks for it.” No. Of course not. You’re going to take it for free with a smile on your face. And that’s what I’m doing. If they want me to pay at least $4, they can make me pay $4. It’s well within their power and I’d happy do it. But they said I could have it for free. So now I have it for free.

A couple more points in this matter: first of all, the normal CD will be released next year and I’ll probably buy it. If anything it was a genius move letting me hear the album first so I know I like it. I also hate paying for digital downloads. I like having art and credits, plus I am not a fan the degradation of quality when buying an mp3 from iTunes or something. It is fine for some people (tons of people have downloaded Shaimus from iTunes and I love that), but it drives me crazy. Luckily the files from Radiohead’s website were higher quality, but still not CD quality. Finally, when they next come to town for a show, I will be there. They make so much money from touring, if that’s not supporting them I don’t know what is.

In Rainbows is a very cool experiment and Radiohead is making waves in the music industry as well as making an interesting point. If you were considering getting the new album, I say definitely download it. And pay whatever the hell makes you happy.