The physical release of Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' will, after all, come out this year. Though only just. XL Recordings have confirmed the CD version of the album which, of course, was released digitally on a pay what you want basis last month, will hit stores on 31 Dec. A single release of 'Jigsaw Falling Into Place' will follow on 14 Jan.
Meanwhile, Music Week has said it can confirm those earlier reports that the physical release of 'In Rainbows' will be released in the US by indie label ATO Recordings. They say it will actually be distributed by ATO imprint TBD, quoting Radiohead co-manager Bryce Edge thus: "We have known and worked with [TBD boss] Phil Costello for years. The independent nature of the company, where one knows exactly who is in control of the company and what the company's short and medium term future is; those were quite strong attractions, along with the belief that they can do a great job on the project".
TBD will also release the album on 31 Dec, meanwhile in Japan, where the album will be distributed via a third separate deal with Hostess, the album is due to come out on 24 Dec.
Meanwhile, the band have released a statement regarding that report by research firm ComScore which claimed to have monitored the 'In Rainbows' pay what you want promotion, and which claimed that the majority of people did not pay anything, and of those that did the average price paid was under £3. Basically the band have said ComScore's research is all speculative nonsense. They say this: "In response to purely speculative figures announced in the press regarding the number of downloads and the price paid for the album, the group's representatives would like to remind people that, as the album could only be downloaded from the band's website, it is impossible for outside organisations to have accurate figures on sales. However, they can confirm that the figures quoted by the company ComScore Inc are wholly inaccurate and in no way reflect definitive market intelligence or, indeed, the true success of the project".
More Radiohead news, and an anonymous poster on blog site boingboing.net has claimed that Radiohead did not approve the previously reported back catalogue box set being released by EMI just in time for Christmas. We know not who this poster is or whether there is any truth in what s/he says, but here it is: "I think people need to know that the band isn't some greed machine. I can tell you with 100% certainty that EMI is putting out all those reissues without the band's participation, blessing, permission or involvement at all".
The post explains: "They [EMI] are doing it as retribution for the band's decision not to go with them in releasing the new album. Despite their contract being expired, EMI had been counting on the revenue from the forthcoming album. When the band put out the digital version of the album themselves, EMI threatened them with re-releasing their entire catalogue on the same day the discbox of 'In Rainbows' [which the band themselves have been selling by mail order] was being sent out, Dec 10, unless the band gave EMI the standard physical release of the album. Of course the band/managers told EMI to piss off and were appalled that at such an important point in the band's career that their former partners would do this to them".