Lets see... 1.5 million downloads (estimate based on a couple articles)
x .39% paying for it
___________
741,000 paying customers
x $6 per
___________
$4,446,000 approximately...
with not much costs to recoup such as recording, no label costs, no distribution costs other than the website and some
PR that they may have paid for
So each band member takes home about $1,000,000 before taxes...
not bad at all...and surely their next tour will rake in money and new fans due to the publicity generated by this whole thing.
So it works for Radiohead...
On a smaller scale, I was reading an article by Janis Ian, a veteran folk artist...she supports the free downloading and file exchanges because it has brought more paying customers to her own website for downloads...she said in the article that she makes an extra few $thousand per month on this additional exposure / downloads.
So the new model is working for some artists...
Maybe I have to change my tune regarding giving stuff away