Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has never been shy of an opinion or two about streaming services, famously calling Spotify “the last desperate fart of a dying corpse” in 2011, and comparing YouTube to Nazi Germany last year.
However, it seems he’s changed his tune.
The first single to be released from Radiohead’s upcoming ninth album, Burn The Witch, premiered on YouTube yesterday, and is now available to stream on all digital services, including Spotify.
The album is rumoured to drop in June and looks like it will be released via their own LLLP LLP firm, licensed via XL.
It follows 2011’s The King of Limbs, which was initially available as an MP3 download and on CD, but has since arrived on Spotify.
The record hit No.6 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 69,000, and No.7 on the UK Albums Chart on sales of 33,469.
It was with 2007’s In Rainbows (still not available to stream) that Radiohead started experimenting with release strategies after their contract with EMI ended.
The album came out via the band’s website with a pay-what-you-want caveat, and hit No.1 in the UK and US.
In December 2007, Yorke stated that Radiohead had made more money from digital sales of In Rainbows than the digital sales of all previous Radiohead albums combined, with reports pitting its first burst of revenue at £3 million.
There’s no news on how the new set will be released, though Brian Message – a partner in Radiohead’s management firm Courtyard Management – did say he hoped the band would make friends with streaming services this time around during an industry event in London last month.
In November last year, Yorke issued a tirade of verbal abuse on YouTube for what he deemed to be a lack of payouts from revenues the Google-owned firm was generating via adverts that appear before creative content.
“The [makers of these services have] seized control of [art] – it’s like what the Nazis did during the Second World War,” reasoned Yorke. “Actually, it’s like what everyone was doing during that war, even the English – stealing the art of other countries. What difference is there?”
Burn The Witch has now notched up over three million views on YouTube.
In 2013, Yorke pulled the debut album from his new band with producer Nigel Godrich, Atoms For Peace’s AMOK (2013), from Spotify alongside his solo effort The Eraser (2006). Godrich’s solo LP Ultraista (2012) has also gone.
Music Business Worldwide