[Ian mackinnon via Brothers Brick]

Also be sure to check out the awesome visualizer, which lets you manipulate the data to adjust the image and rotate around the objects in real-time. The most fun time waster you'll find all week, guaranteed. [Radiohead]

The Geometric Informatics scanning system employs structured light to capture detailed 3D images at close proximity, and was used to render the performances of Radiohead's Thom Yorke, the female lead, and several partygoers. The Velodyne Lidar system uses multiple lasers to capture large environments in 3D, in this case 64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute, capturing all of the exterior scenes and wide party shots.

Well, that's pretty neat. As you can see from the screenshots, it's pretty old-school-computers looking. Unfortunately, the video was supposed to drop today but was delayed for some reason, so all we have are the screens. I'll post the video as soon as it comes out. [Pitchfork]

This song came about as a call for remixes by Radiohead for "Nude." Houston notes that most of the entries were lame, and he wanted to do something a little different that fit in the theme/alternate song title offered (Bad Ideas: Don't Get Any). And he also came up with this video, which has an awesome retro, Daft Punk-ish Human After All vibe.

It's entirely possible this was all made on a computer or keyboard, but I'll take it in good faith it was made as the creator claims. And I'd say this isn't just a little different, it's way different and damn spectacular. [Youtube] (Thanks, John )

UPDATE: Radiohead's kit can be found here.

"It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do," Yorke told the Hollywood Reporter." I don't think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time."

Yorke and Co. have remained tight-lipped about whether they think the move was a success or not, but the freebie method has been adopted by other artists, notably Nine Inch Nails. The latest group to jump on the freebie bandwagon is Coldplay, aka Radiohead Lite, who announced on Monday that their new single, Violet Hill, would be available for free, and promptly b0rked the interweb* with their selfless gesture. [Reuters]

*The band's official website crashed.

Pearl Jam and The Doors have been offering direct DRM-free MP3 downloads of material for a while now in a mix-and-match format, though not with the highest ease of use factor; Prince just gave his last album away (though not digitally); and Public Enemy's giving away How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul for free on P2P networks, albeit loaded with ads. And loathe as I am to credit Phish for anything, they directly sold MP3s way back in the Stone Age of 1999.

Ultimately Radiohead was only wading around the kiddie pool wearing floaties, those being its plans to distribute the album on vanilla CDs next year, possibly through one of the Big Four in North America, ensuring their experiment held little possibility of sinking them (or their cash haul).

The release was brilliant: Fanboys latched onto the $80 superfan package, casual or sympathetic fans threw a couple bucks its way for middling but DRM-free MP3s, and the band cleaned up on positive press, only to have another shot to do it again in a couple months with a regular release riding a wave of hype.

Saul Williams proves to be an interesting test case for independent digital distribution: He's not a household name, but he is forcefully backed by someone who is. In truth, without Trent's involvement, it's doubtful many people would be writing about this at all. Regardless, the release strategy is bolder and closer to what people want out of digital distribution: no DRM, easy access, solid bitrates whether you paid or not, and choices (FLAC or MP3, free or flat, reasonable fee). And while there could be a CD release of Niggy Tardust, given Trent's stance on the major labels, it's highly doubtful it'll be through one of the Big Four.

It's been asked what's up with the hate for physical media and trumpeting of digital releases. I don't hate CDs. I buy a ton of them. The issue is choice. People can buy an album on CD, buy it DRM'd to hell and of mediocre bitrate from a number of online stores or grab it for free in whatever quality they want without DRM from an equally large number of quasi-(il)legal outlets. Trent Reznor and Saul Williams are simply recognizing that piracy is a legitimate, or at least a real consumer choice, and they are cutting out the middlemen—both the labels and the pirates.

What I'm arguing is that the future of the music industry is in offering up music in as many avenues as possible, as easily and cheaply as possible. It's not so much advice as it is inevitability—it's just where things are going. The hard reality is that people place a different value on that content now than they did before—it's absurd to me to pay for news, for instance, despite being in the industry—and no matter how many people the industry sues, that won't change.

To me, five bucks is reasonable for a digital copy of an album at a good bitrate, ten for a real CD. But it might be three bucks and six for the guy next to me on the bus. Or nothing at all, but he'll drop thirty bucks go to a concert. Maybe he just spreads the word to someone who will. The music industry fits in here by offering reasonable choices and formats to accommodate all of those situations—at prices people will pay (or not) in each of them—of which there are, actually, more of than ever.

Radiohead didn't go far enough because they didn't really believe in their online release as a genuine choice. (Witness the quote from their management, "If we didn't believe that when people hear the music they will want to buy the CD, then we wouldn't do what we are doing.") On the flip side, Trent told people to steal his music because CD prices are too high, and will probably release his next album in much the same way Saul did.

Radiohead gives samples away to try to keep people from stealing it. Saul is giving his album away so they don't have to. In that way, Radiohead's step forward is an almost equal one back, while Saul's is one that's firmly forward, even if he ends up stumbling along the way.

"In response to purely speculative figures announced in the press regarding the number of downloads and the price paid for the album, the group's representatives would like to remind people that, as the album could only be downloaded from the band's website, it is impossible for outside organizations to have accurate figures on sales."

Good point. I would like to think that Radiohead fans aren't as cheap as we have been lead to believe. But my question is when are we going to see some official numbers? [e-consultancy via Pocket-Lint]

Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor applauded Radiohead for their courage in going forward with the new business model, but he believes that that the low numbers could be partially due to problems with their execution. Problems he hopes to overcome by offering customers the option of paying nothing or $5 for Saul Williams' new album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust, which he produced. If customers want the free version, they will have to settle for a 192kbps MP3 bitrate which might lure audiophiles to pony up some cash for the 320kbps MP3 or FLAC lossless version. So will a new approach help or are music fans just hopelessly cheap? Only time will tell. [Crave]

In case you've been living under a rock for the past 14 years and don't own a single Radiohead release, now's your chance to get on board. The first way to buy it is in a set with all seven discs in digipacks with original artwork. That'll set you back £40, or about $83, which isn't much of a discount (thanks mostly to the insane exchange rate).

The next option is to buy all seven albums as digital downloads, all encoded as 320kbps MP3s, along with digital artwork. The price for this is an unforgiving £35, or $73.

The last option is probably the most appealing to Radiohead die-hards, as it comes with a limited-edition USB drive. The 4GB drive will come loaded with the seven albums encoded as uncompressed WAV files as well as digital artwork. The price for this "strictly limited edition" piece of hardware? £80, or $167. Yes, $167 for a thumb drive loaded up with WAV files.

So, how many of these sets do you think EMI will sell? You've got to appreciate the choice of encoding options, but those prices are beyond insane. And the real problem is that only the most devoted of fans would even consider spending this kind of coin on RH materials, and they obviously own all the back catalog already. So, uh, what the hell, EMI? [Product Page]

As Idolator's editor had guessed, the shitty 160kbps files should've been a tipoff something else was in the works besides the $80 feel-good bonus-laden package. Which, had fans known a regular CD release is coming out, would they have dropped that much coin? Some, sure, but all? And what about the poor bastards that paid full price (or more) for the middling quality MP3s?

What makes the move so goddamn dirty is that it was complete subterfuge—had they said they were planning a CD release in the first place it wouldn't be so bad. Instead, they cheated fans and rode a sky-high wave of good press while planning to do the same old, same old the entire time. There's no way I'm buying their album now, in any form. It would've nonetheless made for a more interesting experiment if they'd foregone the traditional channels altogether, a bold break rather than a toe in the water. [Financial Times via Idolator]

If you want a physical copy, you'll need to drop a whopping $82 on the "discbox," which includes both CD and vinyl versions of the album, plus an additional CD/vinyl of more new songs, with the CD also including digital pictures and other such goodies. It also comes with a big photo/art book. That version also comes with the digital download, as the physical copy won't drop 'til December 3rd (the delay to help prevent leaks, presumably).

What Radiohead is essentially doing is making piracy useless for their album. It won't leak, so you can't get it early by pirating. And, assuming they'll be selling high-quality MP3s as they do with all their other albums, there's no reason to avoid DRM by pirating. And, since it's essentially free if that's what you think it's worth, you won't save any money by pirating. By making this the best way to get the album, chances are good that people will actually, you know, pay for it, even though they don't have to. And since this is OMG Radiohead, you know boatloads of people are going to drop $82 on the collectors-item discbox, which is sure to help them make their ducats.

Oh, did I mention they're doing this without a record label? Yes, that sound you just heard was the music industry collectively crapping its pants. [Radiohead via Idolator]