Posted from The Citrus Report
All we know is the “Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) are now targeting sites that provide the songs for free, including songs from Radiohead’s In Rainbows, which the band gave away as “pay what you want” in 2007 on their website.
We have never really known Radiohead’s stance on free music sharing, but we do know they always wanted to get out of the ancient record industry machine, and pay what you want was sort of a big fuck you to the industry. But they did go on to sign with labels that do use the machine, so apparently no matter how big you are, if you are on the radio, and you want to make physical compact discs, you are stuck in the machine.
But the Guardian writes, “There’s nothing new here: the RIAA has been chasing filesharers for years. But would Radiohead really pursue bloggers who post songs from an album the band once gave away? And, more importantly, do the RIAA and IFPI have any right to represent a band who quit their major label, EMI, to go it alone?
The answer to both of these questions is: probably.
Waiting on a clever Thom Yorke blog post…. to rebut or explain.
