Radiohead Changes the Recording Industry?

The Search has some insightful analysis of Radiohead's recent online release/giveaway of their album, In Rainbows. Here's the first way (of five) in which Radiohead's move was "pure and utter genius":

1) Giving the album away via download has no distribution costs. Thus, any goodwill payment (and people have largely been paying SOMETHING, if only a pound or two) is nearly pure profit. No record label to siphon away profits, no physical goods to ship. It’s a transaction directly between Radiohead and consumer, and early numbers show it’s paying off… big time. Cutting out the middleman is the exchange of the future.

Check out the whole article. Based on the numerous hours I have spent studying the music industry via my iPod, I agree. If you haven't already, you can go download Radiohead's album for whatever you think it's worth.