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Radiohead on iTunes? Yup

by Christina Warren Jan 3rd 2008 at 2:00PM

As many of you (judging by the number of e-mail tips we have received) know, the latest Radiohead album, "In Rainbows" is now available on iTunes. The album is $9.99 in the US and released via iTunes Plus, meaning the files are DRM free. This is the first Radiohead album to appear on iTunes (though fans will note that frontman, Thom Yorke's solo album, "The Eraser," has been on iTunes since its debut in 2006), where Radiohead has remained one of an ever-shrinking group of high profile artists not to list their catalog with the digital service.

Previously, "In Rainbows" was available as a free or "pay what you want" download directly from the band. While the success of this promotion has been debated, it was always clearly devised as a promotion nonetheless. Shortly before launching the "In Rainbows" download promotion/experiment, Radiohead announced that the record, at that time, would not be released via iTunes. So what has changed? Well, the biggest change is that Radiohead is no longer with EMI. Digital sales have long been a point of contention between the band and their former label (and it is a primary reason the back catalog is not on iTunes and will probably not be on iTunes in the foreseeable future), now that the band has control over its own music and licensing terms (and is releasing the album via independent labels online and in retail stores), iTunes has become a viable distribution method.

To make it even more clear: Radiohead decided to split from their large record label, in order to build-up hype for the album's official charting release, they did the free/pay-what-you-want online promotion. Now that the album has been officially released (so that it can be tracked by SoundScan and other technologies), it is being made available through both online and retail outlets. Edit: Clearly this is conjecture on my part, based on information released by the band and the music press. For instance, the album is also available at Amazon.com's DRM-free MP3 store for $7.99 US. Amazon also carries the majority of the EMI back-catalog (excluding "Kid A," for reasons unclear to me), which I assume is the result of differing contracts between the two digital services.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

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As many of you (judging by the number of e-mail tips we have received) know, the latest Radiohead album, "In Rainbows" is now available on...
 

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ToupsWinker

Radiohead is like god music. If you people don't understand it you are probably fans of Jack White or something.

January 04 2008 at 6:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
guerro

The album is available at Starbucks as of today. FYI

January 03 2008 at 10:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
cheebs

Has anyone gotten the whole album from iTunes yet? I want to know if the digital booklet included with the album is a cool extra.

If so that's my incentive for buying it again from itunes (besides pure AAC and a little higher bitrate).

January 03 2008 at 3:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to cheebs's comment
punkassjim

It intrigues me that you're basing your purchasing decision on the digital booklet. I've always liked real paper liner notes and booklets, but the PDFs included on iTunes just kinda do nothing for me. They sit in a folder, and I look at them once just after buying the music.

January 03 2008 at 3:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Eric

The digital booklet has the lyrics for each song and the production credits. The text is justified with some wide gaps between words and letters, and it is printed on artwork similar to the cover art, making it somewhat hard to read.

The bit rate is much higher. The version I downloaded from the In Rainbows web site is 160 kbps and the iTunes Plus version is 256 kbps. The percussion at the beginning of Recknoner has a lot more punch in the iTunes version.

I didn't think about the bit rate when I downloaded the originally version. If I had known it would be released on iTunes I probably wouldn't have spent $10 for the original version.

January 04 2008 at 2:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
punkassjim

Bugs me when people refer to it as a "free/pay-what-you-wish" offering. I understand that they allowed free downloading if that's what you thought it was worth, but nowhere in their offering was the word "free" used. Bugs me that no one honors the honor system anymore.

January 03 2008 at 3:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Todd

> Is it even slightly possible that they did it because they are artists who respect their audience, and not as a cheap publicity stunt?

I agree with Chris here, but I would have agreed more yesterday. Ostensibly the reason for not going with iTunes was to avoid having the album potentially sold as single tracks. Reversing that stance tells me that it was either a scam, or that Radiohead has a price for every principle it touts. Either way, I'm disappointed and likely won't pay much attention to their next album, however it's sold.

January 03 2008 at 3:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Todd's comment
Dale

Heaven forbid you listen to music because you like it. I wasn't aware that enjoyment was directly proportional to the rigidity of the performer's principals.

January 03 2008 at 5:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Todd

Fair point, Dale. Radiohead's music has been pretty political though, and I do consider how something is marketed to me as part of the product. To try the point from a different direction, heaven forbid I enjoy something on my own terms?

January 03 2008 at 5:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ToupsWinker

Radiohead sucks.

January 03 2008 at 3:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to ToupsWinker's comment
punkassjim

thank you for making the world a better place.

January 03 2008 at 3:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Frank Furter

If Radiohead didn't suck, I could see this being pertinent.

Other than they are the typical money-hungry thugs they are (ironically) trying to call out.

January 03 2008 at 3:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Frank Furter's comment
Dale

Your name appears to be a reference to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I'd take Thom Yorke over Richard O'Brien any day.

January 03 2008 at 5:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David

I don't see why anyone would by the album from either iTunes or AmazonMP3, when for the same price as the MP3s you can buy the actual audio CD from Amazon.

These online services really need to lower their prices if they want people like me to use them instead of buying cd's. Least their finally coming around to DRM being useless.

January 03 2008 at 2:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dan.callahan

Saw it at Target today for $7.50. Faster, cheaper, and higher quality than the iTunes Store.

January 03 2008 at 2:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to dan.callahan's comment
Dan Warriner

did you really say faster?

January 03 2008 at 2:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dan.callahan

Okay, so that one depends on your Proximity To A Target Outlet (P-TATO).

January 03 2008 at 4:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chris Murphy

"Radiohead decided to split from their large record label, in order to build-up hype for the album's official charting release, they did the free/pay-what-you-want online promotion"

Unless you have actually talked to the band, I doubt that you know this for a fact. Is it possible that they split from their old label because they, you know, SUCKED? I also don't think you can state unequivocally that you know the MOTIVES for why Radiohead released their album pay-as-you-wish.

Is it even slightly possible that they did it because they are artists who respect their audience, and not as a cheap publicity stunt?

January 03 2008 at 2:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Chris Murphy's comment
Christina Warren

I didn't mean to imply that anything I wrote was stated fact -- this is just what we fans have been able to figure out. An I'm a MASSIVE Radiohead fan - MASSIVE - I got the disc box, the iTunes download and a regular retail CD for "In Rainbows" -- but the band has already acknowledged that a big part of the free release was to promote the album before it was released for charting purposes. Personally, I think it was a brilliant move on their part and I think the album is brilliant.

January 03 2008 at 2:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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