If I were to rank Radiohead albums, which I wouldn’t (1. Kid A; 2. OK Computer; 3. In Rainbows), In Rainbows would be in my top 3. It was also the first album after Radiohead left EMI and the band went with a “pay what you want” model for the digital version of the album. You’d still pay if you wanted something physical, like the deluxe box set sitting on my shelf, but for the download you could pay anything. Pretty sure I paid $10, which was the going rate for album downloads back then, when people actually downloaded albums.
The Guardian just published an excerpt from Eamonn Forde’s just released book “The Final Days of EMI: Selling the Pig” about, well, the final days of EMI. The excerpt is specifically about Radiohead’s decision to leave EMI and the battle between the band and the corporate raiders that purchased the once proud label. Fair to say that this was a complete win for Radiohead and another nail in the coffin of EMI.
On Sunday 30 September 2007, just hours before the calendar flipped into Q4 and marked the start of the major labels’ busiest and most profitable retail period, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood posted a message on the band’s Dead Air Space blog. “Hello everyone,” he wrote. “Well, the new album is finished, and it’s coming out in 10 days. We’ve called it In Rainbows. Love from us all.”
This seemingly blasé post to announce their seventh studio album was followed up by the details of the release. When it became clear what precisely they were doing, all hell broke loose – not just within EMI but across the entire record business.
The Guardian “Chasing rainbows: inside the battle between Radiohead and EMI’s Guy Hands” – February 18, 2019
In the end, Universal bought EMI’s record label business (later selling parts of it to Warner Music to appease anti-trust regulators) while Sony/ATV bought EMI Publishing (which was more valuable). Meanwhile, Radiohead has continued to release albums on their own and through XL Recordings.
transient random noisebursts 