Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke has confirmed in an interview that they will no longer be offering any of its albums on a “pay-as-you-please” purchase model, and that “In Rainbows” was a one time deal.
A few months ago the band made headlines when it decided to release “In Rainbows” as a digital download, and for free on its website. Fans were asked to pay as much as they wanted for the album. Many took the full CD for free but the band still made millions, without having to pay any in distribution fees or record label fees.
Yorke says however that the move was “a one-off response to a particular situation”, and won’t happen again.
Yorke also added: “I don’t think it would have the same significance now if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time”, he said.
Result for: thom yorke
Earlier this week, the musician Prince did a cover of the popular song “Creep” originally by Radiohead at a concert at the Coachella. After word spread, tens of thousands of curious fans went to YouTube looking to get at least a glimpse of the performance. There was a problem however, NPG Records, Prince’s label had quickly advised the site to take everything down related to the song and there were no videos to see.
There was one problem with that however. Not even Radiohead could see the fan videos, of their own song. Thom Yorke, lead singer for the group, first heard of the cover via text message and after his bandmate was unable to view a video on YouTube he quickly called his publicist.
“Really? He’s blocked it?” asked Yorke, who figured it was their song to block or not. “Surely we should block it. Hang on a moment.”
Yorke added: “Well, tell him to unblock it. It’s our … song.”
YouTube’s policy is that if they receive a complaint from a copyright owner they take down the infringing video. This situation is a lot more tricky however, as Radiohead owns the song copyrights despite the fact that it is Prince singing it.
Both YouTube and Prince have declined comment on the matter so far.
For now, YouTube seems to still have the videos taken down but videos have emerged on others sites such as DailyMotion for those interested.
