Everybody knows: the music business is changing, big bands are ditching their major labels and experimenting with revolutionary ideas. But how will these ideas work for brand new bands?

Radiohead allowed fans to choose their own price to download In Rainbows for a short time. Results? About 40% of fans paid something (60% got it free). The average price was roughly $4 per album.

Trent Reznor teamed up with Saul Williams and gave fans the choice of downloading NiggyTardust for free or $5. Results? Trent was perturbed that most people chose free, but Saul took a more optimistic viewpoint.

Radiohead, Saul Williams and NIN had substantial fanbases before executing their radical marketing plans. How will avant-garde music industry strategies work for bands with zero-ish fans?

Let's find out together.

Bullets in a Burning Box has just released the album Afear in Radiohead-esque fashion, allowing fans to decide the price of the digital download. How will this work out?

Bullets will post quarterly sales data for the album Afear starting June, 2008 at the Bullets in a Burning Box Blog. You can subscribe to Bullets' Feed.