They may not be the first group to put their entire new album on YouTube, but it’s still not something you see every day. New “supergroup” Them Crooked Vultures has confidently made their self-titled new album available free for anyone to listen to on the wildly popular video sharing site YouTube.

This may be an interesting experiment, whether or not the band planned it as such, I do not know. Will the release of the entire album online for free have any impact on album sales? Some fans have commented on YouTube and indicated that they plan to buy the album and applaud the group’s decision to put their music out there.

Other fans indicate that those who download music illegally are mostly kids who cannot afford to buy their music or people who would not buy it even if the downloads were not available. Groups like the RIAA surely do not agree with that assessment, but might this move by the Vultures prove them wrong? Is there any measurement that is used to accurately predict album sales? It would be interesting to know if the YouTube release has any effect on the numbers.

Perhaps the group is just facing up to reality, knowing that their album will be available online whether they put it there or not. I don’t think it takes a seasoned internet veteran to locate free music to download online, and it seems that barely any popular group is immune to having their material shared though various methods, which include download sites, news groups, torrents, P2P Networks, and perhaps others I have never even heard about.

The official release for the new album is set for November 17th.

To check out their new album in its entirety, head on over to Them Crooked Vultures’ YouTube Channel.