Radiohead - money for nothing and no tracks for free

(PA)

It was a surprise when the album-orientated Radiohead scored a success on the singles chart with "Nude" in April, but less so if you consider the publicity their remix project generated. Fans were encouraged to obtain the five parts to "Nude" (bass, drums, guitar, strings and voice) and to rework the song via the Garageband program before uploading it to www.radioheadremix.com to be voted on. The genius of the project was that each part cost 79p on iTunes, so that 2,000 fans who took part paid almost £4 for them and a further 79p for the single.

This week they repeated the exercise with "Reckoner". iTunes initially made a mistake, charging users £4.74 for the instrument parts EP, which is actually on sale for only 79p for the lot. But, bearing in mind that people are still paying double – 79p for the this and the same for the song – it's still a lesson in how to make money in cash-strapped times.