Radiohead were pioneers in social media announcements, between the sudden pay-what-you-want digital release of In Rainbows to, as far as I know, inventing social media blackout / cryptic profile picture shenanigans.
My point is only this: If in 1997 you'd told me that the people who wrote OK Computer would later be unashamedly using a world-dominating platform built by fitter happier people whose ambition, I was told, makes them look pretty ugly, I would not have believed you.
Remember you're talking about a very popular band that was making full use of 90s world-dominating mainstream media platforms that were run by douchebags then too.
I’m fully in agreement with you dude. Hypocrisy among artists who take a stand is hella annoying. It’s like the White Stripes swearing they’d never get a bass player, only to get a bass player.
They literally made an album describing in detail how technology was bad for humans and now they are beholden to the same technology they once critiqued.
I was a big fan at the time and paid $0, I read later that most people did the same but that a good amount of people did pay money, and the album was more profitable than their previous album. I felt a little bad and later bought the physical copy when it was released. It's either the best, or second best Radiohead album. It's definitely worth listening too.
Some people, like GP, or me, might pay for something just to reward a step in the right direction.
Band I don't listen to releasing music I don't listen to in a way I prefer might be a step in the direction towards band-I-listen-to releasing music in a way I prefer.
Basic psychology. Works on pigeons and what not, as proven by B.F. Skinner.
But I am unconvinced when it comes to the content industry, I'm not sure we can repeat the success from the pigeons on them ;-)
3. is incorrect. the leaker wasn't trying to extort, he was trying to sell individual tracks. He then just released the whole thing online, posing as Hoserama, to try and save face. So we have had the leaks for over a week now.
> Someone at that 3rd party copied and leaked the data.
Or someone broke into the 3rd party infrastructure and made out with the data. Music-related businesses are not exactly renowned for their cybersecurity standards. We'll probably never know.
Sorry, too late to edit. You're right, much of this (all three points?) are speculation/hearsay/guesses. I'm just summarizing what's been reported, I don't have any special inside information.
Pitchfork does a good job of following up on the second version, which may be the more accurate of the two:
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/radiohead-fans-vs-black-marke...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kA8u6UhjbutZ-b7TXzmX4qkO...