Radiohead: Have They Created a Brave New World?
January 7, 2008 | 10:49 pm | by t-blender |Rate It:
spin.com: With Radiohead, Madonna, and Nine Inch Nails leading the charge against major labels, one month in 2007 may be remembered as birthing a revolution that shook the industry to its core. But have they truly created a brave new world?
October 10, 2007, is a day that will live in infamy in the hearts of major-label executives. That was the day Radiohead, after more than a decade with Capitol Records, self-released their seventh album, In Rainbows, digitally, without a price tag. The same day, news broke that Madonna was leaving Warner Bros., her label since the early ’80s, to sign with Live Nation. Her deal cedes percentages of her touring, merchandising, licensing, and CD and DVD revenue to the concert promoter in return for a cool $120 million. Notably absent from both equations, at least at this early stage, was the mention of any traditional record label. The thinking went: If these two titans could get along without major-label muscle, wouldn’t everyone else soon do the same?
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