MUSICIANS and music publishers had mixed feelings about Radiohead’s experiment. The experiment involved allowing people to download and chose how they opt to pay the British band’s new album In Rainbows.

Excerpt from an AFP story:

British rock group Radiohead have drawn a mixed reaction from fans and fellow musicians with an experiment letting listeners decide the price of their latest album, reports said Thursday.

Other artists are said to be studying the novel sales strategy — labelled a publicity stunt by some — of allowing fans to pay whatever they want for “In Rainbows,” which which went on sale online on Wednesday.

The hit art-rockers, already authors of six albums, drew widespread publicity when they announced earlier this month that that fans could decide the price themselves, saying “It’s up to you” on their website.

My take: Radiohead has found a way to create buzz. It’s a huge risk but I do agree with one view that if people like something, they’re willing to pay for it. But this experiment may not work for all. Radiohead has already created a following back in the days when we were still swapping cassette tape remixes.

Here’s a similar take from Blog Critics contributor Jason Meltzer Patterson:

What I find the most interesting about the Radiohead business model is that it sort of keeps the music behind bars again. I mean, by releasing their new album via Web only, you can’t hear what you’re paying for in advance. Radiohead is banking that fans will want this record because they dug past Radiohead records. You have to pay for the download and hope you like it. The pay-what-you-want model begs the question, how much is the Radiohead brand worth to you?

Many artists have gone the other way. They either tour like crazy to make cash and build a name, use MySpace, or both. Look at the careers of Mickey Avalon, Lily Allen and Kate Nash. All of them made it big on MySpace, where listeners can sample the music freely.

One thing I learned throughout the years is that nothing is “free.” Radiohead has hooked us all into thinking this experiment will change the music industry or even force it to its knees. But in the end, they’ll be selling more music because the band has already whetted our appetite for their music.