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October 1st 2007 is the day Radiohead shocked not only their fans, but also the music industry and the press by offering their new album ‘In Rainbows’ as a download, without a label and with a unique pricing method.






TIME magazine writes: Few suspected the band members had the ambition (or the server capacity) to put an album out on their own. The final decision was apparently made just a few weeks ago, and, when informed of the news on Sunday, several record executives admitted that, despite the rumors, they were stunned. “This feels like yet another death knell,” emailed an A&R executive at a major European label. “If the best band in the world doesn’t want a part of us, I’m not sure what’s left for this business.”





A producer who works primarily with American rap artists says: “Radiohead is the best band in the world; if you can pay whatever you want for music by the best band in the world, why would you pay $13 dollars or $.99 cents for music by somebody less talented? Once you open that door and start giving music away legally, I’m not sure there’s any going back.”






The Times: “Radiohead have done something remarkably radical. This isn’t the way the music industry – or, indeed, any industry, has ever worked. […] What this move really relies on though, is the notion that between Radiohead and their fans is a collateral of trust and, dare the term be uttered, decency. Whilst that collateral might not be there between, say Sugababes and their fans, it’s the very thing that has propelled Radiohead to this point of unprecedented autonomy. If this experiment works, it will – at the click of a few million mice – make them the most powerful band in Britain.”






Globe And Mail: “Will Radiohead’s experiment lead others to try the “pay what you want” model? That’s difficult to say. As some have pointed out — including Cynthia Brumfield at IPDemocracy — Radiohead has a fan base that is likely willing to pay handsomely for its music, the same way that fans of Pearl Jam are willing to pay extra for high-quality downloads of the band’s music after live shows. Not every group is going to be able to make that work.”






According to Meriel Blackburn, The Official Chart Company’s Head Of Chart Operations, the uniqueness of the album’s availability has put its chart eligibility in doubt. She told NME.COM: “As they are not a chart reporting retailer (any retailer which supplies their sales data to the chart panel), we don’t currently receive sales information from them for inclusion in the charts. On chart eligibility, we have chart rules that products have to meet for us to include their sales in the UK charts. These cover content and packaging, etc. In this case we don’t know enough about the products to be able to say whether they would meet the chart rules and be eligible.” If Radiohead’s last few album releases are anything to go by, it is almost certain the record would top the album charts if it was eligible. A final ruling on whether the record will chart is expected soon.






And some quotes, published in LA Times: “This is all anybody is talking about in the music industry today,” said Bertis Downs, the longtime manager of R.E.M., the veteran alt-rock band that was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. “This is the sort of model that people have been talking about doing, but this is the first time an act of this stature has stepped up and done it. . . . They were a band that could go off the grid, and they did it.”






Another high-profile manager said he was still trying to process the boldness of the Radiohead venture. “My head is spinning, honestly,” said Kelly Curtis, who represents Seattle-based Pearl Jam. “It’s very cool and very inspiring, really.”






“Only a band in Radiohead’s position could pull a trick like this,” is how Pitchforkmedia.com summed it up Monday. That’s because the band became a free agent after its contract with music giant EMI expired with its most recent album, “Hail to the Thief” in 2003. That set the stage for a one-band revolution, even if the five members don’t see it that way themselves.






“It’s more of an experiment. The band is not fighting for the sake of the fight or trying to lead a revolution,” said their spokesman, Steve Martin of New York publicity firm Nasty Little Man. The group declined to comment Monday.

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