I downloaded the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, on Wednesday, and not surprisingly it took a while. Not only has it been four years since they released anything, but when you offer an album for free, there’s bound to be a few million fans that will try to take you up on the offer. All at once, in this case.

After fulfilling their six-album deal with Capitol Records in 2003 with Hail to the Thief, the band decided to cut out the middle man and release their new album independently. What’s innovative about their decision is the mode of delivery that they eventually settled on. As of Wednesday, the music is available, but the only way you can get it is to download it from their web site, paying as much or as little as you want. There are conflicting reports — even amongst the band’s management and spokespeople — over whether the project will at any point be released on CD.

It doesn’t need to be stated that the recording industry has been in a digital music-induced tailspin recently, and I’m sure that a band of the magnitude of Radiohead offering their new music for free won’t seem like the most comforting turn of events to some. On the plus side, when you think about it, they are offering all of us some invaluable market research. Industry insiders and critics alike have speculated for years about how the digital revolution will affect everything from consumer behavior to label and artist profit, and today we have a real live experiment to help us come up with some answers. How far can a song go with just the internet and word of mouth? How much do people think music is worth? When music is technically free, will people still pay for it? (Record of the Day, a U.K.-based company, has created a web site where consumers can volunteer the amount they paid for In Rainbows. The company has promised to report back on the average amount at the end of October). I’ve just taken a look at a BBC chatroom on the subject, and many fans say that they have paid 40 pounds sterling — $80 — for the forthcoming box set, which includes an immediate download upon purchase. If it does turn out that people are still willing to play quite a lot for music when they could have it for free, how will that affect the RIAA’s lawsuits against illegal file sharing claiming loss of income?

In the U.S. alone, Radiohead has two gold albums, three platinum discs, and, in OK Computer, a double platinum release. Needless to say, they probably don’t need more money. With In Rainbows, if they follow through with their claims that they’ll only offer it online (not counting box set sales), they’ll take 100% of whatever profit they make and much more if they follow up with a tour. (The Police have so far been happy to stick with touring since they reunited, grossing $107 million in the first leg.)

If Radiohead’s new venture is a financial success, there is obviously the possibility that more major artists coming to the end of their contracts could follow suit and simply release their music on their own web sites — for free; for less than the cost of a traditional CD; or for less than $0.99 per individual song download. Although it seems probable that fledgling bands will still pursue record deals and the marketing and promotional advantages they carry, the implications for major labels can be read as ominous.

I am equally interested in how this may affect radio. Triple A, a relative latecomer to downloading music for airplay using digital delivery services, seemed to turn a corner this fall, as many major releases — Mark Knopfler, Steve Earle, and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few — were serviced digitally, with hard copies of full CDs following much later. This move forced the hand of many stations that had previously opted not to use digital download services, since their only other option was to choose to begin playing major releases a month later than other stations in their markets. American radio has long had the luxury of receiving free product, which is, let’s face it, an anomaly in corporate America. What would happen if major acts — Radiohead, U2, Coldplay — decided to release their music independently and/or online, and to charge less for it? Would radio be willing to pay for the music? Would they steal it? Or would they choose to ignore these releases?

We’ve been anticipating the day when record labels release all promotional music to radio digitally for a while, but will a world where radio must actively seek or even pay for music turn us all on our heads? I heard lots of music from In Rainbows on several Triple A stations that I streamed online these last few days. It helped me keep the faith that when the band is big enough, and the music is good enough, radio will always be there.

–Julia Clarke