That... doesn't make any sense. David Bowie was posting music for free years ago. If the artist wants to distribute something without charge, they probably have to make arrangements with their agent and their label before releasing anything.

That is - if the artist says its free, its free legally.

Actually I think from what I've read Radiohead told their label to go fuck themselves and is doing this on their own and I think 4 other groups are following

That still requires a contract release or some type of legal proceeding where they're no longer affiliated with the label. By the time they told them publically to fuck off - they had probably done it weeks or months before hand. Speaking ill of any record label is highly unprofessional and not unlike cutting your nose off to spite your face.

(On the other hand, Lou Reed got out of contract by fulfilling his album obligation in producing the legendary Machine Music album. The fact that Radiohead seperated denotes that theres more going on than simply a group of hippies disagreeing with a bunch of suits.

As I understand it from what I heard on NPR, Radiohead just didn't re-up their contract when it expired. I think they were professional about it, not doing what Slash said in a literal sense.

At any rate, the original question was retarded.