THE land of Napster was action-filled this week when three top-selling bands with huge followings in GenX-ville decided to use the file-sharing program to promote their new albums – in one way or another.

The sands have shifted again.

Earlier this year, artists used Napster to get their point across. In one corner was Lars Urlich of Metallica, which has sued Napster.

In another corner is Limp Bizkit, whose tour was sponsored by Napster.

Artists are now turning to the technology itself to show which side of the issue they are on.

Adopting an “if you can’t beat ’em join ’em” attitude, Offspring said they would pre-release their next album, “Conspiracy of One,” free on the Web in October, a month before it’s due.

The first single will be available next Friday on the band’s site, http://www.offspring.com. According to press reports, the band’s label, Sony, told the band to cancel the promotion.

Barenaked Ladies uploaded Napster files with tracks of their new album “Maroon.”

But once Napster-philes download the tracks and play them, the tune is interrupted with this message: “Although you thought you were downloading our new single, what you actually were downloading is an advertisement for our new album.”

Fans can’t get upset, says Stacey Herron, an analyst with Jupiter Communications research firm, because it’s free.

“Artists choose to use and abuse Napster for exactly the point they want to make,” says Herron.

Discussions of how to circumvent Napster or use digital downloads as a part of promotions are now part of CD-release strategy meetings.

While all the songs from Radiohead’s new “Kid A” are now available on Napster (the album’s not due for another week), Radiohead fans were fooled by “official” fake tracks, which were supposed to be from the highly anticipated album.

Still Radiohead did use the ‘Net to promote the album. Fans can hear the new album on Angry Coffee (www.angrycoffee.com), a file-sharing site which focuses on indie artists, as well as on the label’s Web site (www.hollywoodandvine/radiohead).

The Smashing Pumpkins pressed only 25 copies of its new album, which will never be released on a CD, gave them to 25 fans and friends and asked them to distribute the songs online.

With these 25 seeds, the 25 tracks from of “Machina II/Friends and Enemies of Modern Music” are now available as free downloads all over the Internet.

These are bold moves for top-selling bands such as the Smashing Pumpkins and Offspring, which can afford to do this.

“Once you’ve made a few million you don’t care about money,” says Adam Powell, CEO of Angry Coffee. “You just want to distribute your music.”

Offspring’s last album, “Americana” with the hit “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” sold 10.5 million copies world wide. Wired said “Pretty Fly …” was downloaded 22 million times in 10 weeks. One more stat: The band’s career worldwide sales exceed 26 million units.

Not only is the album free, those Offspring CD-downloaders will take part in a million-dollar giveaway. Sony has nothing to do with the online promotion or the million smackers.

“This money came directly to us from our fans,” singer Dexter Holland said on the site. “We feel it would be cool to redirect it back to them. We are trying to launch our album with promotions that are fan-supportive rather than fan-exploitative.”

But Offspring’s not giving away something for nothing. They’re gathering a huge data base. Fans who do buy the album have access to the Offspring fan club by linking to the site when the disc is played in a CD-ROM drive.

By collecting this database, Offspring is positioning itself for the digital download future, whenever that is and whatever form it takes.

“I don’t think people will cough up cash for obscure ‘b side’ downloads, but people might put up credit cards for secure downloads” of album-quality new music, says Herron.

While older artists, such as David Bowie and Todd Rundgren, have been using the Web to digitally download to fans, it’s the first time younger artists have gone in this direction.

We’re seeing the creative ways artists are using MP3 files. “It’s great that artists are finally grasping the Web and using it to their advantage,” says Herron.

There might be something to Offspring’s madness. Madonna’s latest, “Music,” was out on Tuesday. The title track was available on Napster mid-summer. Now the whole album is on Napster.

If it’s going to end up there anyway, as Holland says, artists and labels should use it to their advantage.

The more creative, the better.