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Radiohead have fans - lots of them. They could have just released a new record, got some airplay and sold some records. But they allowed people to pay what they thought was a fair price for In Rainbows - marketed online and distributed online.

And today it’s Coldplays turn with the new single of their next album announced as a free download.

How much traditional marketing spend have they saved? You can bet the cost is less than the publicity this ’stunt’ will generate.

Let’s face it thought - it’s not even a marketing stunt. It’s just the way things are moving with cheaper distribution and the nature of a viral message and social tools (I just Twitter‘d it). It goes hand-in-hand with the thousands of un-signed bands on MySpace and YouTube.

Oh yes, did I mention that these people have fans? So, what’s so special about you?