dora flood....they have all of their albums up on their website for no cost (except their latest one)

^The Swirlies have done the same thing

I'm not going to pretend I know a lot about Radiohead releasing In Rainbows for free off the net, but a lot of other bands have already done the same thing before. I think it's just due to their high profile that generated all this commotion and although I'm not really a fan of their music (bar The Bends), I broadly approve.

And the only reason all those other bands haven't made such a commotion is because they're not nearly as good. Case closed.

I wasn't aware you'd heard all of them

I agree with Urban to a certain extent. It would have been great to see Radiohead go the whole distance and release it themselves. They have the financial clout and it would hardly be a financial loss with their fan base.

I am hoping more bands will do this but make it more streamlined. The talk of being IP banned for illegally downloading music is a sore point. If bands offered a limited download at a low bit rate that was DRM protected, then maybe there would'nt be as much downloading. I download primarily to hear new music that I have never heard or to get rare back catalogue stuff. Many many times I have bought the album on hard copy if I like it and not downloaded to make money (which is what seems to be the gripe). If companies and bands gave the public a taster then maybe they could actually BOOST sales and not a loss.

If a record company had the foresight to stick all the stuff in their vaults online and charge a flat monthly fee to download as much as you want I would happily sign up for that.
I'm sure a company like Sony could find the resources & technical details to do such a thing , and it would make a lot better headlines than suing the shit out of people.

Something similar is happening with movies. You can now delve through back catalogues and order rare/deleted titles which they will press onto dvd for you and send for a small fee. I think warners are behind this. So a music venture could certainly be feasible.

Of course forget Sony.

What I really want is the BBC to do this with all their sessions & live recordings.

It's a safe assumption that, given the current insatiable hunger of the music industry for the next big thing and the accessibility of their music via the net, no one who has even a modicum of talent will be overlooked. And it would take a LOT of talent to even begin to compare to Radiohead. So yeah...I'm pretty sure my statement stands, even if I haven't and probably won't hear every band that offers their stuff for free...

That...is a great idea.

*drafts letter to the BBC.