A week ago, comments began circulating among Radiohead fans that a trove of private recordings had been stolen from the band, including early demos from around the time of the band’s classic 1997 album “OK Computer,” and that the thieves were demanding “upwards of $150,000 for the entire set.”

Well, it did leak. And no, Radiohead didn’t pay. The recordings — about 18 hours’ worth — appeared online last week and were promptly cataloged in detail by a group of fans who insisted, “we are not the leakers.”

Still, to hear the recordings one had to be in the know — until Tuesday, when Radiohead itself released the entire archive under the title “Minidiscs [Hacked],” saying it would be available for 18 days through the online platform Bandcamp. (In an example of the strange full-circle patterns of internet commerce, Bandcamp, which is popular among independent artists, has become one of the most successful proponents of the “pay what you want” strategy that Radiohead pioneered in 2007 with its album “In Rainbows.”)