Radiohead's Thom Yorke releases surprise album via BitTorrent

Seven years before U2 decided to force a new album on every unassuming Apple customer, Radiohead released their seventh studio album, In Rainbows, online in a landmark use of the pay-what-you-will model. And now, singer Thom Yorke has just unleashed his latest solo album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, on BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing service.

Releasing the album this way is "an experiment to see if the mechanics of the system are something that the general public can get its head around," Yorke and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich said in a statement. "If it works well it could be an effective way of handing some control of internet commerce back to people who are creating the work."

Yorke is an outspoken critic of the free streaming service Spotify and other music distribution models that give artists fractions of cents per track play and indirectly discourage music fans from actually buying music. Tomorrow's Modern Boxes is available now for $6, and you can stream a track or buy the album below. --Samantha Rollins

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up