With little fanfare this week, Radiohead made a new track available for download on its Web site. Entitled "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)," it demonstrates how the band views the contemporary music business—and how little regard it has for the conventional view of what a rock band should do.

The song is a moving tribute to Patch, who was believed to be the last surviving British soldier to have fought in World War I. He died on July 25 at age 111. In September 1917, Patch was wounded by a bomb that killed three of his comrades at the Battle of Passchendaele, one of the most horrific actions of the war that saw British casualties in the hundreds of thousands during the three months it lasted. In a 2005 interview with the BBC, Patch said that he went 80 years without discussing his war experiences, even with his family.

But through his longevity, Patch became a reluctant spokesman, eventually testifying with candor to what he had witnessed in France more than four-score years ago. He said that he still had nightmares about the bomb that struck his unit.

The process of marketing "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" shifts slightly the ­direct-to-consumer strategy the band first used in October 2007 with the release of "In Rainbows." Initially, fans could download the album from the band's Website, paying what they wished. About 10 weeks later the album was sold through conventional vendors at a price in line with today's CDs and downloads.