December 20, 2007 9:30

Radiohead say 'In Rainbows' download was 'obvious' Radiohead Tickets

Thom Yorke speaks out about unique download

Photo Gallery: Radiohead

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has said that the download system that allowed fans to get hold of the band's new album ’In Rainbows’ was an obvious step for the group.

The album was available to download from Radiohead’s official siteearlier this year and fans were allowed to name their own price for the record.

Speaking about the unique selling method, Yorke said: “It’s not supposed to be a model for anything else. It was simply a response to a situation. We’re out of contract. We have our own studio.

“We have this new server. What the hell else would we do? This was the obvious thing. But it only works for us because of where we are.”

Yorke, being interviewed by Talking Heads legend David Byrne for Wired, said younger artists should be wary of signing away their rights.

“You don’t sign a huge record contract that strips you of all your digital rights," he said. "So that when you do sell something on iTunes you get absolutely zero. That would be the first priority.”

Yorke also criticised major labels.

He said: “I don’t see a downside at all to big record companies not having access to new artists, because they have no idea what do with them now anyway.”

Yorke echoed bandmate Ed O’Brien's sentiments when he recently said of their old label – EMI’s Terra Firma: “They didn’t understand where a band like us sat on a label like EMI so they weren’t able to give us what we needed.”

The album is set for a conventional CD release on December 31.