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Radiohead’s new album In Rainbows is being watched with a sceptical eye by the corporate music industry. The band have separated from their recording company and recently ventured on a new musical quest with a view towards changing the economics of music forever. Their new album, released on the 10th of this month, is available for sale at the price you choose, plus a 45 pence “administration charge”. But what will this Prince-esque escapade achieve?

Whilst some see this merely as a publicity stunt of sorts, there is little doubt that it has the potential to re-shape how music lovers perceive the industry, if only gradually. The average amount fans paid for the album so far is not too high; not a direct representation of the quality of the album, but rather of the inherent wish in all of us to simply not spend too much money wherever possible.

With this intrinsic characteristic in mind, it seems sensible to ask ourselves whether it is altogether surprising that so much music is illegally downloaded via the use of file-sharing software. “After all”, the 21st-Century psyche remarks, “why pay when I could not?” This is supposedly a “free-market”, after all, so why not work hard to make it as free as possible?

Whilst this is a valid point, one still has to appreciate that there are real people behind every medium, with real lives working hard to make real money. Is it right to “steal” from them? Or is online music piracy a revolutionary step forward in this modern world of information overload? Both, I would argue. Music – as with all entertainment – is there for everybody to enjoy; it is powerful, it impacts our lives; surely the free distribution of media is exactly what the future will need, once all art is a simple click away.

Or maybe In Rainbows is a potent example of things to come – art sold to the masses at their own decided price in hope of fairness to all. We don’t know for sure how true a vision of the future this is, or what impact it would have on the creators of the music. We can only wait.