Thom Yorke uses BitTorrent to sell new album

Radiohead's ever-experimental frontman, Thom Yorke, has released a surprise new album through computer file-sharing, testing a new way of revenue generation that he hopes can directly benefit musicians.

Called Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, Yorke's second solo album is a melancholy, ambient composition whose layered but measured textures of electronic riffs reflect his frequent theme of the role of the individual in an increasingly industrialised world.

Yorke chose a new way to sell the album - over BitTorrent, the system to share large files between computers that has become notorious for the free swapping of copyrighted material. Tomorrow's Modern Boxes breaks new ground by charging for the files, although the US$6 price is less than most album sales.

"I am trying something new, don't know how it will go," Yorke wrote on Twitter as he suddenly released the album.

In a longer message, Yorke said that BitTorrent could allow artists - who frequently complain of meagre royalties - to bypass "the self-elected gate-keepers" and sell their work directly.

"If it works well, it could be an effective way of handing some control of internet commerce back to people who are creating the work," he said.