Radiohead Leak Their New Track To BitTorrent
Written by enigmax on August 17, 2009During the last few days a new Radiohead song was mysteriously released onto the Internet. The track is called “These Are My Twisted Words” and until today it was unclear where it had come from. Now, thanks to a post on the band’s blog, it seems the boys could’ve had it planned all along, as they are now linking to the song on Mininova.
Radiohead are no strangers to BitTorrent after the well-documented pay-what-you-like “In Rainbows” album unofficially racked up many thousands of downloads using the protocol.
Late last week the band’s BitTorrent link was revitalized after a new Radiohead track leaked onto the Internet. After this advance release of “These Are My Twisted Words,” rumors began to grow that Radiohead themselves might be behind the ‘leak’.
Speculation grew on the back of comments made by Thom Yorke of the band to The Believer: “We’ve actually got a good plan, but I can’t tell you what it is, because someone will rip it off. But we’ve got this great idea for putting things out”.
Today, on the band’s Dead Air Space blog, Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar and keyboard) seems to solve the mystery:
So here’s a new song, called ‘These Are My Twisted Words’.
We’ve been recording for a while, and this was one of the first we finished.
We’re pretty proud of it.There’s other stuff in various states of completion, but this is one we’ve been practicing, and which we’ll probably play at this summer’s concerts. Hope you like it.
At the bottom of the post are two links to downloads, one directly from Waste and the other the original torrent uploaded to Mininova a few days ago. In fact, it was uploaded twice.
An enthusiastic commenter on Mininova exclaims: “OMFG! This torrent is being redirected from the radiohead official store, so there’s no album, just this song finished, this is very edgy, i mean thom yorke is way ahead from any other artist, at least we know he’s not doing his music to get some profit, at least not anymore, this is history being made, again, GREAT!”
Sounds like the first of many happy listeners.
Mininova is happy with Radiohead’s move also. The site’s co-founder Erik Dubbelboer told TorrentFreak: “It’s great to see that artists use Mininova to distribute and promote their content for free. We encourage everyone to do this, which is why we provide our Content Distribution service.”
Radiohead uploaded the torrent the old fashioned way though, seeding it themselves. Apparently they are well aware of the latest developments in the BitTorrent community, as they used the newly founded OpenBitTorrent tracker.
Previously: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent
Next: Hackers Divert Anti-Piracy Website to Torrent Sites
28 Responses
Also props for using bittorrent.
Lol, is RIAA gonna sue Radiohead for pirating their own sing (As record label hols copyright, not artist)?
“We’ve actually got a good plan, but I can’t tell you what it is, because someone will rip it off. But we’ve got this great idea for putting things out”
Oh please. You’re hardly the first.
(That’s what she said)
If Radiohead uploaded this torrent to Mininova why isn’t it in their featured section?
Snippet of another new song wallsofice.com!
Snippet of another new song wallofice.com!
@1
They have the rights to distribute the songs. They can’t do a thing about what the artist does with their stuff.
“… i mean thom yorke is way ahead from any other artist, at least we know he’s not doing his music to get some profit, at least not anymore, this is history being made, again, GREAT!”
hahaha, how dare an artist try to make money on their own work. Should I feel bad about making a profit every time I go to work?
@3 “Radiohead uploaded the torrent the old fashioned way though, seeding it themselves.”
I don’t think Radiohead is even owned by a record label. Correct me if I’m wrong, and tell me which label…
Mininovas Content Distribution service works really well.. wonder why they didn’t use that..
For one track I guess you don’t need it, but why not? Its a way of KINDA officially releasing it and its a no hassle service, speeds are amazing.
I like it because its a way that artists can directly release there stuff without it being mixed into the torrent swamp, you know that the stuff is fresh and clean.
Radiohead are not with any record label any more.
their contract ended with capitol after “Hail to the Thief”.
This is what allowed them to be all ‘innovative’ and release “In Rainbows” online, DRM free, for whatever you wanted to pay…
One word: FINALY!
Radiohead needs to promote their content for free, gain a larger following, go on tour selling concert tickets, sell their autographed cd’s directly to fans, sell autographed t’s, pictures, memoribilia, and pose with fans for a fee.
That way the money they earn is there’s. They can get the satisfaction of being on the road, working, meeting fans and earning money that they’ve worked hard for. There are no fat red faced lawyers and executives to feed. They choose their own goals and direction and choose how much money they earn, and not a dime for record companies.
We’re all slaves in a sense. Most of us work hard for companies, bosses and owners that get to keep the lions share of profits and contribute to their wealth and retirement while most of us work and slave all of our lives only to retire with just enough to survive in ournold age.
Radiohead is smart for doing things this way, and the record companies don’t like their artists hearing about things like this. They rely on artists being ignorant sheep, blissfully following orders being told what to do while the executives keep the lions share due to the artists talent and work. This is how record labels earn their billions, and the brainwashed artists earn only a fraction of what they could be earning if they were on their own.
Radiohead, please keep doing what you’re doing so other artists will follow. It may also help label enslaved artists go on their own and will inspire unknown artists to not become slaves and go things on their own.
@Mr. Briggs
Label(s) XL, TBD (2007–present)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiohead
My impression was that it was leaked first on What.cd. Thats according to Pitchfork, the Guardian UK, and a bunch of folks on What.cd saying nothing showed up on teh interwebs until a couple hours after it was uploaded there…am I wrong?? Plus there was kinda suspicious action from the What.cd uploader who added it to the site.
They can never get sued for anything either way. Would really make the plaintiff stupid if he said “I’m sure your breaking a law somewhere by sharing you own stuff.”
Radiohead shares the music for free by their own choice and its not against the law to give your own shit away for free.
Regarding the labels owning the copyrights, why don’t pirate defense lawyers ever try to point out this fact. Why doesn’t anyone ask an ex-boy band member if they still get their cut when their songs are played? The boyband era should prove plenty of anti-label copyright myths.
Tech N9ned leaked his album “Absolute Power” in 2002; long before the radio head fiasco.
@17
this is different because it involves artists and music
http://tinyurl.com/6emp34
Where is Neostyles, I’d love to hear his opinion on this.
Anyway, good for them. I don’t really listen to Radiohead as they don’t appeal to my tastes in music, but they have proved, once again, that piracy does NOT hurt the artists and that BitTorrent is a great way to get your music out there.
@My above comment: What is wrong with it? Why does it need to be moderated, there is nothing that could be offensive in it.
It’s Great to see a donation box would be nice to have on their website. However they don’t tour everywhere anymore something about the planet and all Depresses me T_T
Way to go Thom Yorke and the boys from Radiohead… I knew there was a reason why I love their music so much… May the BitTorrent protocol live on!!!
@ Ash Ketchum
My understanding is that their contract with XL etc. is very different to what they had with EMI. In fact, I’m not sure they have a contract apart from distributing In Rainbows and its singles – they still own the recordings.
I think you’ll find that What.CD had it first ;)
just thought i’d add that i have 6 free bit torrent albums on mininova – search ‘noah cohn’ – my style is happy-house
when is it my turn on the digg front page? ;-)
Way to go!
Awesome! I’m not a fan but I’d definetly ask them where to send some money for the initiative if I were.
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