Thank you, Radiohead!

Now, I'm not really much of a Radiohead fan, but I really admire their acknowledging that the music industry just doesn't get it and having the fans set their own pricing for the band's new album. Whether or not this is just a passing gimmick or the new standard, the Radiohead influence is spreading:

• Spoken word artist/poet/MC (?) Saul Williams is letting listeners name their own prices for his new album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust. Normally, I wouldn't give this release much of a thought, but Trent Reznor produced it and, judging by the quick samples that I've heard, his fingerprints are all over it. Too bad an instrumental version wasn't released.


• Paste magazine is letting people judge what they pay for a one year subscription (there is a $1 minimum). I had a free subscription to some magazine affiliated with Tower Records a year or so ago, but that mag folded and a few issues of Paste were sent to me for the remainder of the sub. It's pretty good and every issue comes with a compilation CD (and sometimes a DVD). I figured that was worth $3, so they got my money.

So, thank you, Radiohead. This new pricing model is the best thing you've produced since "Creep" (or maybe "Karma Police").