Radiohead managed self-released album as an 'online leak'

For the last month and a half, the buzz on the music industry has revolved around the monumental move by English band Radiohead to self-release a digital version of its seventh album and allow fans to set their own price. It seems Radiohead never had any intention of revolutionizing the music industry; instead the band was attempting to curb a trend of online leaking before an official release, according to an interview transcribed by newspaper NME.

Singer Thom Yorke explains, "every record that we've done for ages has been leaked. Why not leak the bloody thing yourself?" Yorke is referring the the band's previous three albums, which were leaked in the weeks prior to their releases. For the band's 2000 album Kid A, the leak managed to propel the album to #1 in the Billboard 200. Not a bad thing at all really, but it does take the control away from the band.

The front man also revealed that he paid nothing for In Rainbows (it would basically have been like "moving money from one pocket to another"), seeming to acknowledge the rumors that the release was nothing more than a publicity stunt for the pending CD release later this year. In the end, Yorke also admits that the digital move also "came from the band's management who didn't want to release an album while out of contract."

No matter these revelations, the album and its initial release should still be viewed for the changes that will be wrought in the music industry. Radiohead should refrain from being so modest.