LONDON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- More than 500,000 copies of Radiohead's new album have been pirated -- even though the British band invited fans to pay whatever they wanted to get it legally.

About 500,000 copies of the entire track listing of "In Rainbows" have been digitally distributed through illegal file-sharing networks, TG Daily reported. Approximately 240,000 copies were pirated on the album's first day of release.

After their contract with EMI Music expired, Radiohead decided to distribute their music themselves directly to the public. The band invited fans to pay any price to download the entire set of songs from the Web site, inrainbows.com.

Gigwise said the band has sold about 1.2 million copies, making it the group's fastest-selling album.

But the number of albums illegally distributed suggest online piracy is not an issue of money anymore but rather a habit adopted by many Internet users, TG Daily said.