Radiohead top UK album chart | The Register

The "In Rainbows" promo by Radio highlights an important aspect in digital content distribution - that of tangibility and its implicit association with people's idea of "purchase". As Yorke claims in the article " ... it's really important to have an artefact as well". This idea that content and physicality are inextricably linked is something that is missing from digital media purchases. Although the music itself is ephemeral, new digital distribution techniques should address this by alternative "artefacts". The art of digital the sell will mix self promotional materials with the content itself. The paraphernalia usually reserved for concerts, or concert tickets themselves can be marketed directly to fans on a global scale and help solidify an artist's "brand" image and putting control of the artist-fan dialog firmly in the hands of artists and NOT music labels.

Only one question remains ... how to promote album awareness? By its very nature radio stations are self selective and really only provide a fractional glimpse of the entire artist's oeuvre. This cornerstone of the music distribution industry must be revisited in order to truly expand the dialog between an artist and his/her potential fan-base.