Marillion do nicely giving away their album

When Radiohead tried the 'pay what you want strategy', figuring they could make up the cash on the physical sales, many observers shrugged and said "fine for Radiohead, with their trendy fans who like fine wines and understand the rules of croquet, but it wouldn't work for everyone".

So, you might be wondering, how have Marillion done with their "free for download, pay for the CD" model?

They've tripled sales, compared with the last album.

Now, the Bittorrent release was a bit botched - it wasn't a straight "here's the tracks" deal and involved harvesting email addresses. But even with a little extra annoyance factor, it worked as a way of building interest in a band who, it's fair to say, might be a little bit hobbled trying to generate publicity through more traditional routes.