Radiohead's album giveaway hurts small artists?

Karma? Free albums equals sold out concert tours?

Radiohead will allow consumers to download their new album, Rainbows, and let buyers pay the band whatever they want - even nothing.

Nonetheless, the band will require fans to use their credit card and to pay a small transaction fee. The idea is that millions of free downloads will lead to market data on millions of Radiohead fans, which could be great way to drive concert ticket sales via a direct marketing campaign.

Obviously, such a move could work well for an established band, however, can it work as successfully for an up-and-coming band? Or, is charging for digital content just no longer viable because of the Internet, filesharing, etc?

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