Radiohead's 2007 album In Rainbows has enjoyed critical and commercial success since it was released last October through a unique "pay-what-you-want" scheme directly from the band and its management team. Likewise, many fellow artists have come out in favor of the scheme or against the method used by the English band. Fellow English band Oasis, however, has completely dismissed any notion that the band will ever duplicate that method, citing expenses incurred during the recording of new album Dig Out Your Soul over the course of the past year.

A new report by Gigwise reveals the band's position and reasons for it, with Oasis calling the Radiohead method nothing more than a marketing tool. Noel Gallagher, Oasis' lead songwriter and guitarist, did call Radiohead "rebels and outsiders" when commending Radiohead's method as a unique marketing tool.

Oasis signed a new deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture between Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) and Germany's Bertelsmann Music Group, last month that will see the band's own label, Big Brother Recordings, release the new album while Sony BMG oversees the band's back catalog and previous releases. The deal is a more traditional arrangement in today's market and environment that makes the new comments against Radiohead unsurprising.

Despite criticism by Irish band U2's manager Paul McGuinness over Radiohead's method for releasing In Rainbows last October, U2's lead singer Bono has published an open letter in NME disagreeing and applauding Radiohead for the album and how it was released. McGuinness told the BBC in early June that the method was "a failure and backfired" because "it still resulted in over 60%-70% of listeners acquiring the album through illegal channels."

Bono's letter to NME, printed in last week's issue, takes a sharp left turn from his manager's opinion, calling Radiohead "courageous and imaginative in trying to figure out some new relationship with their audience." Bono also remarked how "blessed" he feels "to be around at the same time" as "a sacred talent" like Radiohead. U2 have recently taken steps to reach their audience, joining forces with Live Nation Inc. (NYSE: LYV) in a deal that will market their music and concerts with related products from one location.

U2 is still signed to Universal Music Group for the band's record releases, which may have been one reason McGuinness came out against the method Radiohead used last year. Neverthless, the disagreement between manager and lead singer is insignificant compared to the applaud Radiohead continue to receive from fellow artists. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, a band that was also signed to Universal Music Group, has also come out in support of Radiohead's method, even though he, too, took issue with some aspects of it. Reznor has since released two NIN albums the same way.

In Rainbows, the media scrutinized album by Radiohead, first released online last October, finally achieved a number one chart position in the band's home country of England earlier this week. The album also scored a number one position in the Billboard 200 chart, after entering at #156 last week due to early releases. The release last week brings to a close the three months that media outlets have scrutinized the band's decision to release the album online to fans at pay-their-own-prices, and demonstrates the "traditional" success possible after such a gimmick.

According to Billboard, the top position in Britain is the fifth time Radiohead has enjoyed such success. The band's first number one album was 1997's OK Computer, followed by 2000's Kid A, 2001's Amnesiac, and 2003's Hail to the Thief. A new single off In Rainbows, "Jigsaw Falling into Place," is set to be released in the United Kingdom next week, which will surely enjoy success on its own as well as promoting the album further.

Neither the band nor its management has released any viable information elaborating on the success of the band's decision to release the album online, and the physical release -- the "discbox" -- which the band released alongside the download was unavailable to enter charts when it finally hit streets in early December. While it is impossible to determine what kind of precedent the download release and the new CD version will set for the music industry, Radiohead has enjoyed similar success in the past. Both 2000's Kid A and 2003's Hail to the Thief saw online leaks before being released and eventually enjoyed major chart success, a number one and number three in the Billboard 200 respectively.

It was bound to happen eventually. Backlash against English band Radiohead has emerged from the band's former label EMI Group plc (ADR) (OTC: EMIPY) in response to the method used to release the band's new album In Rainbows. You may recall that in October, Radiohead received a great deal of media attention and coverage after declaring that fans could "pay-want-they-want" for the new album. Despite hints that the band may have enjoyed a significant monetary figure from that decision, reports since then have claimed otherwise, stating the band took a loss when only about 40% of consumers paid any amount for the album.

The word slinging against Radiohead from EMI began late last week when an article for London-based The Times newspaper cited an EMI spokesman's claim that the band had demanded £10 million (roughly $20 million) upfront. Apparently, the £3 million offered by EMI and new chief Guy Hands was insufficient beside the fact that the label would not give up control over the band's previous six albums, a major point of contention for the band. According to the band's manager in the article, the band left the table when that point became unavailable. Radiohead front man Thom Yorke has since hit back at these claims in the band's official blog, dispelling the notion that Radiohead wanted a load of cash, while questioning EMI's decision to air its "dirty laundry" and backing the comments made by the band's spokesman.

To an inordinate degree of fuss, British rock group Radiohead self-released its seventh album, In Rainbows, on its website back in October, employing a pass-the-hat pay model whereby downloaders could pony up what they wished for the album, from as much as 100 pounds (about $200) to as little as virtual pocket lint.

The band has kept mum on the actual download figures, as well as their take, but a comScore study on In Rainbows' early success estimated that just 38% -- less than two in five downloaders -- bothered to put up anything at all. comScore's findings -- which Radiohead has disputed -- suggest the band gave out some 744,000 copies of the record for free, not to mention all those unrestricted downloads that bewilderingly saturated the file-sharing piracy sites, despite their free availability.

For the last month and a half, the buzz on the music industry has revolved around the monumental move by English band Radiohead to self-release a digital version of its seventh album and allow fans to set their own price. It seems Radiohead never had any intention of revolutionizing the music industry; instead the band was attempting to curb a trend of online leaking before an official release, according to an interview transcribed by newspaper NME.

Singer Thom Yorke explains, "every record that we've done for ages has been leaked. Why not leak the bloody thing yourself?" Yorke is referring the the band's previous three albums, which were leaked in the weeks prior to their releases. For the band's 2000 album Kid A, the leak managed to propel the album to #1 in the Billboard 200. Not a bad thing at all really, but it does take the control away from the band.

The front man also revealed that he paid nothing for In Rainbows (it would basically have been like "moving money from one pocket to another"), seeming to acknowledge the rumors that the release was nothing more than a publicity stunt for the pending CD release later this year. In the end, Yorke also admits that the digital move also "came from the band's management who didn't want to release an album while out of contract."

No matter these revelations, the album and its initial release should still be viewed for the changes that will be wrought in the music industry. Radiohead should refrain from being so modest.

Radiohead continues to take its own music industry path, with the news this morning that the U.S. release of its seventh album, In Rainbows, will come through a record label set up by the band -- TBD Records. As previously reported, the album will arrive at the very end of 2007 in international markets, with the U.S. release date two days later on January 2. (Please see my comment for updated status of this information.)

Of course, In Rainbows is more famous already for the stir it created when Radiohead announced in early October that the album would be available as a download-only for the time being. Fans who passed on the download will now have their chance to buy the CD. A spokesperson told Billboard that the meaning of TBD is attributable to the fact that the band and ATO Records, who are distributing the release "ran into trouble in trying to clear all previously discussed potential label names." Although it seems clear that a reference to the moniker "to be determined" would not be too far off the mark.

Radiohead may have been taking revolutionary steps with the release of In Rainbows so far, but this move is nothing new. Bands since the 1960s have created their own record labels: The Beatles and Apple Records, The Rolling Stones and their creative Rolling Stones Records label. Even their 1990s brethren have started labels to manage their own music -- Oasis started Big Brother Recordings in 2000. At least Radiohead is taking the necessary measures to keep control of their music and their label, or so it seems. The Beatles and the Stones may have not had issues with EMI managing their material, but Oasis has reportedly been unhappy with Sony BMG's control over its music and label.

The music industry-rattling Radiohead album released online last month is set for its "traditional" physical CD release at the very end of this year, according to British music newspaper NME. The album, In Rainbows, will be released internationally December 31 and have a single pulled from it early in the new year. No American release date has been mentioned. At the same time, the band has questioned the report that many listeners chose to get the album for free when Radiohead allowed fans to choose their own price.

A statement by the band reads: "In response to purely speculative figures announced in the press regarding the number of downloads and the price paid for the album, the group's representatives would like to remind people that, as the album could only be downloaded from the band's website, it is impossible for outside organizations to have accurate figures on sales." NME also adds that another part of that statement, "confirms that the figures quoted by the company comScore Inc. are wholly inaccurate, and in no way reflect definitive market intelligence or, indeed, the true success of the project."

If we are questioning the validity of the comScore report, we should also question its purpose. The simple fact is that Radiohead offered the album to fans knowing that some might try to get it for free. If many did, then it's likely the band sees no problem with that anyway. Its management has been on record saying that the download "buy for your own price" was essentially a marketing ploy for the physical CD release. Well, here we have the physical CD release, and the fans that did not buy the Radiohead-released physical "Discbox" will likely buy the new CD copy, in addition to the download (I can say that I will). In the end, the album may be released traditionally, but that does not mean the experimental download release was a failure. Neither does the fact that some fans "bought" it for free.