Photo: Press
The world is currently once again in the grip of Radiohead fever, helped all the more by the band allowing their new song 'Burn The Witch' to be allowed to be streamed online for free - despite frontman Thom Yorke previously comparing Google and Youtube to 'Nazi Germany'.
After teasing fans throughout the weekend, the band finally dropped the first full taster of their new album yesterday with the animated video for the brilliant 'Burn The Witch'. It's pretty amazing, find out why here.
However, many fans feared they wouldn't be able to enjoy the new track for free, after Yorke previously slammed online streaming services. Much of Radiohead's back catalogue had also been pulled from Spotify after being acquired by their current record label, XL. 'Burn The Witch' does however, feature on Spotify and Youtube.
Yorke made headlines by releasing his latest solo album Tomorrow's Modern Boxes via BitTorrent last year - reportedly adding around $20million to his networth in profits made from the record. Last year in a scathing interview with La Repubblica - saying "I definitely don't use Youtube."
Speaking about the use of app Adblocker, Yorke said: "The funny thing is that YouTube has said 'that's not fair'. You know? They say it's not fair – the people who put adverts in front of any piece of content, making a load of money, while artists don't get paid or are paid laughable amounts – and that seems fine to them. But if they don't get a profit out of it, it's not fair."
He continued: "I don't have the solution to these problems. I only know that they're making money with the work of loads of artists who don't get any benefit from it.
"People continue to say that this is an era where music is free, cinema is free. It's not true. The creators of services make money – Google, YouTube. A huge amount of money, by trawling, like in the sea – they take everything there is. 'Oh, sorry, was that yours? Now it's ours. No, no, we're joking – it's still yours'. They've seized control of it – it's like what the Nazis did during the Second World War. Actually, it's like what everyone was doing during the war, even the English – stealing the art of other countries. What difference is there?"
Speaking of the matter of physical vs digital music, Yorke added: "Recently I got out all the vinyl that I had," he said. "Stuff collected over a lifetime... with every single vinyl there's a relationship. Like when I'm DJing: there's this direct contact, you have to take the disc, choose it, put it in a bag, and put the bags in the taxi and then you have to get them down, open them and so on. That relationship doesn't exist with digital files, USB sticks. And that has a corrosive effect on how music is made."
The band's upcoming headline tour dates are below, with tickets available here.
MAY 20 AMSTERDAM, HEINEKEN MUSIC HALL
MAY 21 AMSTERDAM, HEINEKEN MUSIC HALL
MAY 23 PARIS, LE ZENITH
MAY 24 PARIS, LE ZENITH
MAY 26 LONDON, ROUNDHOUSE
MAY 27 LONDON, ROUNDHOUSE
MAY 28 LONDON, ROUNDHOUSE
JULY 26 NEW YORK, MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
JULY 27 NEW YORK, MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
AUGUST 4 LOS ANGELES SHRINE AUDITORIUM
AUGUST 8 LOS ANGELES SHRINE AUDITORIUM
OCTOBER 3 MEXICO CITY PALACIO DE LOS DEPORTES
OCTOBER 4 MEXICO CITY PALACIO DE LOS DEPORTES
Meanwhile, the band will also be playing the following festivals:
JUNE 3 PRIMAVERA SOUND, BARCELONA, SPAIN - tickets available here
JUNE 17 SECRET SOLSTICE, REYJKAVIK, ICELAND - tickets available here
JULY 2 OPENAIR ST GALLEN, SWITZERLAND - tickets available here
JULY 8 NOS ALIVE FESTIVAL, LISBON, PORTUGAL - tickets available here
JULY 29-31 OSHEAGA MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL, MONTREAL, CANADA - tickets available here
AUGUST 20 -21 SUMMERSONIC FESTIVAL, OSAKA, JAPAN - tickets available here
SEP 11 LOLLAPALOOZA FESTIVAL, BERLIN, GERMANY - tickets available here
