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News.blog: Oasis considers Radiohead route

Should it occur, the extinction of music-industry suits will only be celebrated by the file-sharing crowd. To them, the businessmen who run the record labels stand at odds with art and music. The reputation of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was cemented in the minds of many last week when it won a $220,000 (£110,000) judgment against Jammie Thomas, a Minnesota woman accused of illegal file sharing. Thomas steadfastly claims she is innocent.

But artists should understand the direction they're headed. Album giveaways are the latest sign that music sales will soon no longer fuel the record industry's economic engine.

In Radiohead's case, the thinking is that even if only few people fork over money for In Rainbows, the group can make up some of the revenue with the sale of concert tickets and merchandise. And the bands could save big by not having to cut the label in.

If the system works this way, great. But for the performer this means we're heading back to the days of wandering troubadours and minstrels singing for their supper. Not really, but it does mean long days and nights on the road, for sure.

Will the artists be satisfied with that? Will they have a choice? Will they take to being merchants as well as musicians?

So far things look promising. Radiohead's promotion has attracted enormous attention, according to the story in The Telegraph. The paper reported that although the band declines to say how many fans have pre-ordered albums, the group's Web site has soared from the 43rd most visited music site in the U.K. to number one.

Google reported that searches for Radiohead are 10-times higher this week, according to the paper.