Talking of bands quitting EMI, Radiohead's Thom Yorke has criticised his former label for claiming that they didn't reach a new deal with the current chart toppers because the band was simply asking for too much money.
Yorke's comments follow a recent interview with Bryce Edge, the band's co-manager, in The Times, who discussed their decision to go with independent labels for the physical release of new album 'In Rainbows', rather than re-signing to their old label EMI. Edge claiming the sticking point was the band's "moral rights" over their back catalogue, which is owned by the major. He says they wanted to be assured a say in how the major exploited the back catalogue in the future before signing a deal on the new material, but that EMI and its new owner, Guy Hands, wouldn't budge on that issue.
Edge told the broadsheet: "We sold 25m records and we have the moral rights over those six albums. We wanted a say in how they are exploited in the future. We were not seeking a big advance payment, or a guaranteed marketing spend as discussions never got that far". The deal collapsed, he said, because Hands "refused to discuss the catalogue in a meaningful way".
However, when the Times approached EMI for comment, the major seemingly alleged the sticking point was more tangible, claiming the band was asking for too big an advance. A spokesman for the major was quoted by the broadsheet thus: "Radiohead were demanding an extraordinary amount of money and we did not believe that our other artists should have to subsidise their gains".
It's those comments that have pissed off Yorke. He has told reporters: ''We did not ask for a load of cash from ... EMI to re-sign. That is a lie". He added that he didn't think Hands should be allowing such accusations to be made by his PR department, adding: ''To be digging up such bullshit, or, more politely, airing [your] dirty laundry in public, seems a very strange way for the head of an international record label to be proceeding".