After Radiohead threw a middle finger up at the music industry and released their seventh studio album, In Rainbows, online, many Internet pundits began talking of a revolution. Fans were asked to pay what they thought the album was worth.

Radiohead put the ball in the music fans’ court. So how much did these devoted music fans pay to download this great album? Well, most of them paid nothing at all.

More than 60% of people who downloaded the album chose to do so for free. The vast majority of Radiohead’s “fans” paid less than $4 for the album, while only 4% paid more than $12.

The US market was the most generous, with 40% of those who logged in prepared to pay for the album. Only 30% of people outside the US put up any money for the download.

With so many people choosing to download the album for free (paying only the 90-cent handling charge), one has to wonder why these people didn’t just get hooked up with Bit Torrent or with P2P filesharing services like Limewire or Ares. Why go to the trouble of paying the handling fee?

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