2007 Best & Worst: Music business survival tactics

The artist: Radiohead

The tactic: Completely disregarding the music businesses standard three/four-month lead time for new releases, Radiohead announced on Oct. 1 that its new album would be released in 10 days. The distribution system? The Internet. The cost? Whatever you want.

The review: Downloads went off without any major hitches, even if Radiohead is keeping a lid on just how many hard drives were graced with “In Rainbows.” And OK, with a higher-quality CD coming out Jan. 1, ultimately the move wasn’t quite as revolutionary as we press folk made it out to be, since Radiohead simply opted for a tiered release plan. But the band put the fans first, and no other group of its stature has so bluntly worked around the standard industry model.

Grade: A