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Tag: Radiohead

  • Thom Yorke Pulls Music From Spotify

    Thom Yorke Pulls Music From Spotify

    Thom Yorke, Radiohead’s enigmatic, pony-tail sporting frontman, has taken aim at Spotify for what he sees as a lack of compensation for artists.

    The move comes on the heels of a similar action by the members of Pink Floyd, who wrote an open letter to streaming services to voice their anger. Like the members of Floyd, Yorke claims that the compensation given to acts by services like Spotify falls far short of what they should be receiving.

    Yorke took the battle to Twitter where he tweeted, “Make no mistake new artists you discover on #Spotify will no get paid,” Yorke tweeted. “Meanwhile shareholders will shortly being rolling in it. Simples.”

    Typos and strange wording aside, Yorke backed up the talk when his 2006 solo album, The Eraser, as well as the album Amok by his side-project Atoms For Peace, were removed from the streaming service.

    The move may seem strange given that Radiohead’s album In Rainbows was released on a pay-what-you-want basis that saw many fans downloading the entire album for nothing. Yorke attempted to avoid criticism by calling that release a “statement of trust” to fans who still value music enough to pay.

    Spotify responded with a statement that claimed that the service may still be in the early stages of making sure all artists are properly compensated, but they are working within the industry to improve upon the current situation.

    Whether or not a fan truly appreciates an artist, it is hard to pass up the allure of free music. As long as services like Spotify continue to exist fans will flock to them to hear the music they love while their wallets remain unscathed.

  • Facebook Treats Radiohead Fans To ’15 Step’ Solo Cover

    This cover of Radiohead’s 15 Step appeared on YouTube back in January, but got some extra attention today when a fan page for frontman Thom Yorke shared it with fans.

    Thom Yorke shares radiohead cover

    Luckily for the video’s creator, IAmAhYell, those who are simply fans of Radiohead on Facebook also get to see it, thanks to a Facebook feature that says things like, “Thom Yorke is posting about a Page you like: Radiohead.”

    Radiohead has over ten million fans. It should be a good day for IAmAhYell’s YouTube views.

  • Radiohead’s ‘Karma Police’ Like You’ve Never Heard It Before

    YouTube is peppered with covers of the classic Radiohead song “Karma Police” off their masterpiece album OK Computer. And it should be – it’s an incredible song. But I guarantee you’ve never heard that song like this before.

    The amazing cover comes from Tel-Aviv-based Rotem Shefy (vocals) and Leat Sabbah (cello). They first recorded the song last year, and then launched a Kickstarter project, which is why you see the nicely produced video below.

    For a minute there, I lost myself.

    [ShefitaANDSabbaba via UPROXX]

  • Radiohead’s Thom Yorke Hates Apple & Google’s View of Music as ‘Content’

    Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, one of the first people to give the internet what it really wanted in terms of music distribution, has some concerns about what has happened to music in the last few years.

    The Guardian has a huge, and definitely read-worthy profile out right now, in which Yorke talks his projects both past and present. For a brief bit, he also talks about music as content in the internet age.

    Here’s some interesting stuff from that interview:

    “We were so into the net around the time of Kid A. Really thought it might be an amazing way of connecting and communicating. And then very quickly we started having meetings where people started talking about what we did as ‘content’. They would show us letters from big media companies offering us millions in some mobile phone deal or whatever it was, and they would say all they need is some content. I was like, what is this ‘content’ which you describe? Just a filling of time and space with stuff, emotion, so you can sell it?”

    He went on to lament companies like Google and Apple “commodifying” music:

    “[Google and Apple] have to keep commodifying things to keep the share price up, but in doing so they have made all content, including music and newspapers, worthless, in order to make their billions. And this is what we want? I still think it will be undermined in some way. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

    Interesting words from Yorke, who in 2007 put the Radiohead album In Rainbows up online and let people choose how much they wanted to pay to download it.

    [The Guardian via The Verge]

  • Jude Law and Radiohead Lend their Voices to Save Polar Bears

    Yes, you read correctly, Jude Law and Radiohead have teamed up with Greenpeace to raise public awareness on the latest and greatest efforts by the big oil companies.

    This time, the oil companies are seeking out the rights to start drilling in the Arctic, a place already in extreme danger thanks to the effects of global warming. While there is still debate about what causes global warming, climate change is real, and it is severally effecting the Arctic regions and the wildlife within them.

    Film actor Jude Law comments on the problem in the Arctic:

    “As the Arctic sea ice melts, polar bears are being forced to go far beyond their normal habitat to find food and look after their young. This film is a powerful expression of how our fates are intertwined, because climate change is affecting all of us no matter where we live.”

    “Right now a handful of oil companies are trying to carve up the Arctic for the sake of the next quarterly results but a global movement is growing to stop them. I stand with hundreds of thousands of others who think the area should be made into a sanctuary, protected from corporate greed for good.”

    Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke also comments on the problems in the Arctic:

    ”We have to stop the oil giants pushing into the Arctic. An oil spill in the Arctic would devastate this region of breathtaking beauty, while burning that oil will only add to the biggest problem we all face, climate change. That’s why I’m backing this campaign.”

    Greenpeace released the video featuring the artists in order to raise awareness of the issue and, in hopes of gaining support to put an end to drilling in the Arctic forever. Their ultimate goal is to have the areas declared as protected wildlife sanctuaries, making them free from corporate exploitation into the future.

    Take a look at the video:

  • Radiohead In 8-Bit Sound Quality

    Radiohead In 8-Bit Sound Quality

    Remember the dulcet sounds of video game soundtracks in 8-bit format? Music from titles like Double Dragon and the first Mario Brothers? Of course you do. If not, take a moment to remind yourself. Now that that’s taken care of, imagine what one of the most popular bands–I said band, not pop singers for those of you guessing Katy Perry or the chick who sings “Call Me Maybe”–in the world would sound like in that manner.

    Thanks to the efforts of Quinton Sung, we now know exactly like such a thing would sound like, thanks to his conversion of Radiohead’s Kid A and OK Computer to the 8-bit sound format and uploaded them to YouTube. Not just songs from these albums, mind you–although, there are some of those available as well–but the entire albums.

    Not only that, but with Kid A, there are clickable annotations that allow you to jump to each song on the album. Check it out:


    Naturally, this find has made the social media newswires all over, appearing in places like Buzzfeed and Boing Boing, for instance. The 8-bit conversions didn’t miss Twitter’s eye, either:

    (image) Matt Fowler
    @MattIGN     I had planned on writing the Wrap Up today, then I found full-length 8-Bit versions of Radiohead’s OK Computer & Kid A http://t.co/dWwVBlix
    1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    (image) Eamonn Brennan
    @eamonnbrennan     No they are not. RT @UPROXX: 8-Bit Renditions Of Radiohead’s Two Best Albums Are Not A Let Down http://t.co/XatUqGjc
    1 hour ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    (image) Ellis Hamburger
    @hamburger     Paranoid Android in 8-bit is unreal must listen > Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’ and ‘Kid A’ get an 8-bit reimagining http://t.co/ioB7L1uy
    4 hours ago via Tweet Button · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    (image) Victor Paradis
    @vparads     esto es increíble. Quiero un vídeojuego de Radiohead http://t.co/LsxjHomM via @PlayGrounder
    29 seconds ago via web · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    Mi gusta, también.

  • Radiohead and Ballet at 1000 Frames Per Second

    Simon Iannelli, a German photographer, posted this beautiful video called “Le vent” that he helped direct, to YouTube recently. In the video, Marina Kanno and Giacomo Bevilaqua, two ballet dancers from the Berlin State Ballet, do a series of precise jumps while being filmed at 1000 frames per second. The fast filming allows the video to be slowed down, and the slow-motion ballet is entrancing. Especially when backed with Radiohead’s “Everything in Its Right Place.”

    Its really amazing to see how accurate these two dancers are with their timing, and it’s easy to see the time they’ve put into mastering dance. See for yourself in the video below, and check out Iannelli’s other projects on his website.

  • Radiohead to Perform King of Limbs on TV

    Radiohead to Perform King of Limbs on TV

    Well, kind of, anyway. Radiohead, the band that is single-handedly trying to change the way business is conducted in the music industry, will be performing their new album, King of Limbs on Nigel Godrich’s In The Basement. Because In The Basement is a web broadcast, the rights to Radiohead’s performance were needed before the broadcast was announced.

    The studio-live performance will be broadcast by the BCC, which revealed its intentions at the BBC Worldwide website. According to their statement, the performance will be available to broadcasters in June, but is embargoed until July, 1st. As indicated, Radiohead’s performance will be courtesy of the In The Basement series, a web-only program that has featured such artists as The White Stripes, Gnarls Barkley, Beck, and P.J. Harvey.

    As for the Radiohead portion, the King of Limbs performance will be a live, in-studio performance, lasting for 55 minutes. The performance will be filmed in hi-definition, and is expected to be broadcast around the world. Of the partnership, the BBC offers:

    Salim Mukaddam, VP Music Television at BBC Worldwide said, “It is a real honour to be working with Radiohead on this project. Radiohead are a band that rarely performs for television, but when they do, it’s a moment to savour. There is already huge anticipation for this performance and we’re delighted that they’ve decided to work with us at BBC Worldwide, confirming our position as market leaders in Music Television. As a fan I cannot wait to see these beautiful songs brought to life in this programme.”

    As for Radiohead, it’s not their first time performing for In The Basement. There is, of course, video of their 2009 set:


    The fact that the entire 43 minutes are available on one video has be considered a bonus, especially when you see how something like Bitches Brew is broken up into multiple offerings.

  • New Radiohead Album “The King of Limbs” Marks Band’s 2nd Web-First Release

    Radiohead announced that its new album, "The King of Limbs" will be released on the web this Saturday – February 19. This is the second time the band has gone web-first with an album release. 

    In 2007, Radiohead released "In Rainbows," allowing fans to pay whatever they wanted for downloads of the album. Radiohead will try a different strategy this time – simply charging a set price $9.00 for MP3s and $14.00 for WAVs).

    RadioheadTHANK YOU FOR WAITING5 hours ago 18,573 likes 1,680 comments

    The whole "In Rainbows" thing didn’t work out quite as well as the band had hoped. In 2008, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke told Hollywood Reporter:

    "I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation," Yorke said of the band’s downloading policy for the album "In Rainbows." 

    "It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do," he said. "I don’t think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time."

    "The King of Limbs" will be released in a physical "Newspaper album" format on May 9. 

    Pre-Order Radiohead The King of Limbs Digital Download