New Radiohead album next week

Radiohead will release its latest album, titled "On Rainbows," next week. The release is not through a major label and will only be available through the band's website: www.radiohead.com. How much does it cost? You decide! The band says that it will let fans name their own price for the album - you can even pay nothing if you wish! Check the band's website on Oct. 10th to download it. Read more here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071001/wr_nm/radiohead_dc

Not sure what I think about the name-your-own-price idea. Why would anyone pay anything? Perhaps guilt will induce people to pay something. I think I'll download it as soon as its out and I plan to pay a little bit, but not as much as a normal album. $10 sounds good to me, but I might pay just $5.

Some industry types have criticized radiohead for this approach, saying it will undermine the general value of recorded music. I don't agree with this. I'm not sure music is easily "substitutable," to borrow (invent?) a term from the economists. Radiohead music is particularly unique and I'm not sure it will diminish/reduce people's consumption for other recorded music. I would argue that recorded music is not a normal good, with a limited annual consumption level. Well, people have only so much time to listen to music and their demand for new music is limited by this time. Maybe the music execs should be more concerned about the length of Radiohead's album than its price.