October 1. With no advance warning other than a few cryptic updates to their “Dead Air Space” blog, the Radiohead Web site was replaced with a choppy Technicolor page. It informed the reader that the band, sans record label, had finished a double album called In Rainbows, and that the first disc would be exclusively available in ten days from their Web site.

The shocker? The “pay what you wish” download marketing model, which sent an electric charge through the hordes of Radiohead faithful starving for the band’s first album in four years – and a collective shiver down the spines of music industry bigwigs across the globe.

October 10. After generating an enormous amount of buzz in over a week – with rumors of Nine Inch Nails and Oasis following their DIY distribution example, causing some straining ears to swear they could hear the record industry’s funeral knell – the album finally dropped shortly before 12:30 am CST.

The message boards on the Green Plastic Radiohead fansite immediately crashed from the traffic as fans worldwide hit play. Gigwise.com reported that Radiohead had sold 1.2 million copies of In Rainbows by Oct. 11. An online market survey found that the estimated average price paid for In Rainbows was