Price creep: Radiohead’s new album is no freebie

Radiohead shocked the music world three years ago when they released an album that could only be downloaded from the internet, then invited fans to pay whatever they thought it was worth.

Yesterday, the band reverted to a more traditional method of selling their music, revealing that their next record will sell for a fixed price of £33.

The acclaimed Oxfordshire band announced that The King Of Limbs will be available to download from Saturday, costing £6, and will then be released next month as a "deluxe" edition with a CD and two vinyl discs for £33. The deluxe edition will feature "many large sheets of artwork" and "625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradable plastic to hold it all together".

When major record companies, abhorred by Radiohead, release albums in multiple formats it is often a marketing tool designed to maximise income from loyal fans who feel obliged to buy each version of the same record.

The deluxe package, including two clear 10-inch vinyl records and a higher-quality audio download, will be released to shops next month in a conventional CD and vinyl format by XL Records, the independent label behind the xx and Adele.