Corporate rock sucks #18: Radiohead try another way…

I have very vivid memories of standing in Beggars Banquet in Kingston and NOT BUYING the first Radiohead EP Drill because they were on a major label - and I was very suspicious of major labels even back then (1992) and doubly suspicious of a band with no (recording) history turning up on a major. It's funny (to me anyway) that they are now doing their bit to bring down the vile music industry.



I eventually succumbed and do own an album or three but I admire them all the more now that they have finally ditched the label and have decided to release their new record In Rainbows on their own. They have also taken an "honesty box" route by offering the download version at whatever price the customer wants to pay.



It helps that they're huge and can take a chance on this but I sincerely hope that this proves that you can live outside of the system. Whether it's HUGE Radiohead or not so huge Kristin Hersh who recently announced that she no longer feels she wants to be a part of the system...

There is today a twisted kind of natural selection in the entertainment industry -- a sort of "survival of the blandest" -- the result, I imagine, of mind-fucking marketing techniques, bandwagon appeal, hype. To me this stuff is ugly, not beautiful. Given this, I can only assume that record labels are not for me.

...and then there are all the thousands of other acts who have no prospect of becoming the next Radiohead (or even the next Throwing Muses) but who can now use the Internet to find an audience without having to work within the system (because for them the system is broken)...



A big fat pat on the back to Radiohead...and another nail in the coffin of the music industry.