The Charlatans have also announced that they will release their new album as a free download. Just a heads up for all you EA Charalatans fans.

DazeyDiver wrote:thinking outloud: why can't they just give it to a true indie? several are incredibly well-equipped. yorke gave his solo album to XL.

on the other hand, would there be a harsh backlash if a radiohead album came out on touch and go? i think it would be interesting, at the very least.

good question... i dunno how the money works regarding touring and planes and stuff like that. could an indie financially support a band like radiohead? how does that work? anyone?

Marsupialized wrote:I would like to take this time to announce I also will be self releasing a giant turd in the near future, cept mine will most likely go in the toilet and not be available for download like theirs

will this be available in 180 gram Vinyl? Pic Disc? Multiple colours? How about a MONO release. all of which are more interesting than RADIOHEAD.

DazeyDiver wrote:thinking outloud: why can't they just give it to a true indie? several are incredibly well-equipped. yorke gave his solo album to XL.

This is a good question. Why not? Why is signing to a major label a "necessary step" for one of the most famous bands on the planet?

A great band. I think working with a record label and then saying that it has bad aspects is pretty logical, not quite as hypocritical, or I believe someone said 'whiney.' Or should they perhaps have 'stayed the course' and not been 'flip floppers'.

They have consistently made challenging music and brought it to a bigger audience than expected. I for one put the art, or the cultural artifact in front of the politics of its release. Nonetheless it is an interesting development.

For those of you who care, the new album is streaming at Rolling Stone.

Last year I went to a Steelers game. Great game (they won), good beer, good food, fun times. One sad sack of shit sitting right next to me could not be pleased. The Steelers would kick a field goal, dude would be "Of course they couldn't score a touchdown. I knew they wouldn't score a touchdown." The Steelers would score a touchdown, putting them up fourteen points, dude would be "Just wait until they fuck this up. This is going to be catastrophic when they loose this one." They won, and I swear this dickhead, in full Steelers regalia, was actually sulking his way down the exit ramp.

You guys bitching about a FREE RADIOHEAD ALBUM is kind of like that.

rayj wrote:all the new-fangled internet filtering/'security' that we will all be paying out the nose for in the near, near future.

What do you mean, specifically?

Eating Noddemix wrote:

rayj wrote:all the new-fangled internet filtering/'security' that we will all be paying out the nose for in the near, near future.

What do you mean, specifically?

I'm being 'inductive' here (a fancy way of saying that I'm drawing some half-assed conclusions), but do a search on 'Net Neutrality'. Then, imagine a scenario where your local ISP filters your browsing to, say, 100 sites promoting 'popular' music, while dramatically limiting...or, indeed excluding...your ability to access, say, the website for The Psychic Paramount. Unless you pay more, and unless the 'target site' pays more to host.

Not to mention the assaults on torrent sites by companies like Peer Factor, cases like this one, etc.

I don't have a specific mechanism in mind...merely keeping an eye on what the industry's goals are. I could probably drum up some prospects with a little research...

kenoki wrote:good question... i dunno how the money works regarding touring and planes and stuff like that. could an indie financially support a band like radiohead? how does that work? anyone?

I don't think an indie would need to support an established band these days. Many bands make more money from gigs and touring than from CD sales anyway, so it's self-supporting.

From this article about The Charlatans:

McGee and the band believe that the business model for selling music is moribund and that future income will largely come from ticket sales for live shows and merchandising.

Speaking from Los Angeles, McGee said he decided to give the Charlatans' music away after they were offered a deal he considered less than satisfactory by their record company, Sanctuary. "I thought, 'well nobody buys CDs anyway'.