Guy Hands, the new owner of EMI Records, sent a confidential email to his staff outlining his concerns over Radiohead's departure from the label and their subsequent decision to self-release In Rainbows (tomorrow).
After writing that the band's move is a "wake up call," he continued, "The recorded music industry...has for too long been dependent on how many CD's can be sold, rather than embracing the digital revolution and all the opportunities is brings for promotion, the industry has stuck its head in the sand." No shit, Sherlock. Way to get on that...eight years too late.
Meanwhile, there's a countdown on www.radioheadlp7.com (a former Rick Roll site) that terminates in about 13 hours. I'm going out a limb, here, but I think this means that people will start to get their In Rainbows codes for downloading at 4am Eastern (or 9am in England). That means that when America wakes up tomorrow, opinions on the disc will already be slamming the Internets. Looks like we're in for a "wake up call," too.
The album will also be played in its entirety on British radio station Xfm at noon over there (or 7am Eastern). Check here to listen.
