From the outset Radiohead had stated that “In rainbows” would be available as a box set, consisting of two CD’s two LP’s artwork and lyrics, and was posted on www.inrainbows.com as available for £40 on pre order through the website.
This generated speculation that Radiohead was looking for a label to publish through. This appears to be almost right.
The disk box will ship by or before December the third. The album is also being released as a single disc with Radiohead retaining their independence but using various labels (ATO, XL, Remote control, Hostess) for distribution worldwide. The album will be a staggered release, beginning on the twenty-sixth of December and the final release date the thirty-first of December.
When labels first began bargaining with Radiohead to manage the distribution of the CD, companies such as Starbucks had come to the table, offering lucrative deals- apparently not deals that were closing on Radiohead’s needs though. So what does this imply about Radiohead’s needs? Nothing, not a thing.
Radiohead could not have taken the risk of releasing the album online unless they could afford to come away without making a cent from the album, and in fact, Yorke is quoted as saying, “Every record that we’ve done for ages has been leaked. Why not leak the bloody thing yourself?”*
Releasing an album out of contract as a leak makes sense for a band like Radiohead. The album itself, while ineligible for chart listing has created such controversy and furore throughout the industry as to guarantee it’s release in physical format.
Like it or not, and whether the album is a commercial success or not, “In Rainbows” will be a release that stays in the minds of the record industry for a very long time.
