Radiohead, one of the world’s most popular and critically acclaimed groups, finished their contract with EMI with their 6th release, “Hail to the Thief”, in 2003. The band has just announced that their 7th recording “In rainbows” will be available for download only from their website inrainbows.com on October 10th, for any price you choose, really. The band has refused all offers from record labels and has chosen to release the album on their own with the help of their PR company Nasty Little Men. Live performances of several of the new songs are available on YouTube and can be accessed through this TimesOnline article, which also provides interesting commentary on Radiohead’s “honesty box” album sales. This is yet another blow to the music and recording industry who have been steadily loosing profits to the filesharing programs Limewire , Kazaa (the most downloaded program file on the web… ever), Bearshare or the newer and more complex Bittorrent and it’s affiliated Pirate sites. Warner Music Group reported a record 74% loss in profits last year, while EMI (Radiohead’s old label) managed a 13% increase by harnessing digital download sales of such bands as Coldplay, Gorillaz and Robbie Williams. The future of music is online, but with bands as massive as Radiohead taking on the world of digital downloading without the help of a record company, one wonders if these record companies, as we have known them, have any future at all.

Oh, and go get the album, it sounds amazing.

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