Like young men of a certain age the world over, I have been eschewing actually paying money for music. Since I was living in China and started borrowing music via firewire from one itunes to another, and then going limewire and completing the albums, I hadn’t spent more than a few dollars on music. Illegal downloading just didn’t seem all that illegal, oddly.

Lately, I’ve been trying a new thing. I bought the Life Aquatic soundtrack off iTunes for Mika. I bought the Band of Horses and Franz Ferdinand and the new Spoon albums (the last a bit of a disappointment). Next will probably be the White Magic album (her voice is shudderingly beautiful; nov 7 at the beacon theater!).

But none of those purchases are nearly as fulfulling as this most recent one, and none of that money has left my wallet so lightly than these $5. I signed up for the download of Radiohead’s new album in rainbows without needing to read any reviews; the download starts tomorrow. They are offering it for whatever price you the listener feel it is worth.

For this radical distribution model, I predict throngs of other reformed downloaders will sign up for the album and offer respectable numbers of dollars for the privilege. Radiohead has innovated their way around the illegal downloading issue which keeps record company executives up at night by being honest with their fans: we know you can get it for free, we’re just asking you to do the right thing. They are likely to be rewarded for this
Other folks also seem enthused.

Would this work for any other band? Will this usher in a new era of peace prosperity and direct communication between band and fan, the way the internet was supposed to do way back when?