Wired Mag David Byrne Interviews Thom Yorke.

Yorke claims Radiohead benefits little from the traditional album set up.

That’s what major labels do, yeah. But it does us no good, because we don’t cross over [to other fan bases]. The main thing was, there’s all this bollocks [with the media].

Press people cut and paste from the first review….

We were trying to avoid that whole game of who gets in first with the reviews. These days there’s so much paper to fill, or digital paper to fill, that whoever writes the first few things gets cut and pasted.

Whoever gets their opinion in first has all that power. Especially for a band like ours, it’s totally the luck of the draw whether that person is into us or not. It just seems wildly unfair, I think.

Yorke discusses the ‘pay what you want’ experiment..

That was [manager Chris Hufford’s] idea. We all thought he was barmy. As we were putting up the site, we were still saying, “Are you sure about this?” But it was really good. It released us from something. It wasn’t nihilistic, implying that the music’s not worth anything at all. It was the total opposite. And people took it as it was meant. Maybe that’s just people having a little faith in what we’re doing.

The ‘pay what you want’ experiment only works for Radiohead..

The only reason we could even get away with this, the only reason anyone even gives a shit, is the fact that we’ve gone through the whole mill of the business in the first place. It’s not supposed to be a model for anything else. It was simply a response to a situation. We’re out of contract. We have our own studio. We have this new server. What the hell else would we do? This was the obvious thing. But it only works for us because of where we are.

Yorke gives his insight for bands that are getting started..

Well, first and foremost, you don’t sign a huge record contract that strips you of all your digital rights, so that when you do sell something on iTunes you get absolutely zero. That would be the first priority. If you’re an emerging artist, it must be frightening at the moment. Then again, I don’t see a downside at all to big record companies not having access to new artists, because they have no idea what to do with them now anyway.

On touring….

We always go into a tour saying, “This time, we’re not going to spend the money. This time we’re going to do it stripped down.” And then it’s, “Oh, but we do need this keyboard. And these lights.” But at the moment we make money principally from touring. Which is hard for me to reconcile because I don’t like all the energy consumption, the travel. It’s an ecological disaster, traveling, touring.

The Bottom Line: This is was a nice discussion about business, but what about the music? Radiohead and their camp did an excellent job shaking the cage with the ‘pay what you want’ experiment which became the biggest story and headline in 2007. I just hope that the music and art will be the headline in 2008.

The King Of Christmas: Josh Groban 2007’s album ‘Noel’ could be this year’s best Christmas seller. USA Today wrote: ‘Noel, released Oct. 9, is No. 1 for the third week straight, tying a record for holiday albums set by Elvis Presley’s Elvis’ Christmas Album in 1957. Last week, he sold 581,000 copies, a gain of 8% over the previous week’s haul of 539,000. Noel could reach 3 million.

Major Music Companies Pass On Extra Costs To Artists: Touring and merchandise sales are the main sources of income for an artist to get from one city to the next. Gas prices are soaring close to $4 a gallon making it extremely difficult for touring artists. As if it weren’t hard enough, it just got a little harder.

Once again, major music companies are finding new ways to find money, in this case labels have increased the prices for venue CD’s (CD’s that artists buy back from their label to sell at their live performances). Sources have told KOAR that the major labels are now treating their own acts as a ‘retailer’ and selling CD’s at whole sale prices to their OWN artists.

For instance, some labels have increased the CD price from $6.00 to $6.50 and Roadrunner charges artists $12.00. If an artist buys back their CD for $12.00 that means they need to sell the CD for $15.00 to make a profit. What kid who attends a live show is going to buy a CD for $15.00? Isn’t it true that CD’s are becoming an artifact? Products like the CD with a shelf life about to end don’t go up in prices. Lets get real, artists need a break.

Passings: Dan Fogelberg Died at age 56 from a battle with prostate cancer. Fox Column, Roger Friedman said it nicely: ‘No one, I mean no one, in pop today is capable of these kinds of sublime recordings. They’re too interested in fashion. Dan Fogelberg, with many hits and no place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will be sorely missed’.

18 Million Pumped Into Stiffs: About 60 people lost their jobs at Interscope and Geffen Records on Thursday when both labels merged into one. According to sources, a budget of $18 million was spent in making and promoting the Will.I.Am, Nicole Scherzinger(Pussycat Doll) and Eve albums – all were bombs and two aren’t even out yet.

Is Snocap Melting Away? P2Pnet discusses the possiblity of the mp3 digital retailer Snocap dissolving and offers the gloomier view in monotizing music. The business of selling recorded music is unprofitable for everyone and filling the void are a host of online new companies with enthusiasm but no better economics. Apple can’t even make money selling music, its the ipod that generate revenue. If Apple can’t make money selling music from the major labels, it is suicidal to think that Snocap could make money selling music only from indies. Selling music is like selling gravel. It’s a commodity says p2pnet.

Tickets go on sale at 10:0o a.m., sold out by 10:05 a.m.: Brokers use specialized software to make multiple online purchases of tickets, avoiding the four-ticket-per-customer limit. Kevin McLain, Ticketmaster’s senior director of applications support, estimates that on some days, 80 percent of all ticket requests that arrive at its Web site are generated by bots. For example, Hannah Montana tickets, whose face value is $21 to $66, have been resold on StubHub, on average, for $258, and that is without taking into account StubHub’s 25 percent commission (10 percent paid by the buyer, 15 percent by the seller). Speak about inflation! Do you feel like a sucker? You should. The solution is stop buying tickets for over priced concerts until a settlement is reached between Ticketmaster and RMG Technologies (A company that uses bots). The case is scheduled to go to trial in October 2008.

Layoffs Today at Geffen and Interscope Records: Both labels axed 15 staffers today, spanning all departments.

The Days In Vegas End for Celine: Her last show is Saturday and her “A New Day” show will have grossed $400 million in ticket sales over the four-year, eight-month run at Caesars Palace. According to Variety, Celine racked up 717 performances has played to better than 95% capacity throughout the run. Add sponsorships and merchandise sales, and Dion show’s tally hits a half-billion dollars, according to the show’s promoter, AEG. In each of its first two years, “New Day” took in $80.5 million. The point is, when people come to Vegas – they spend money and Celine was the beneficiary.

Is Amy Winehouse A Tabloid Victim Or Carefully-Curated “Trainwreck”? In today’s Salon, Winehouse is accused of blatant fakery by novelist James Hannaham. “She may be a tragic talent,” writes Hannaham, “but she’s also playing the part of the tragic talent.” Hannaham reasons that Amy is attempting to become a legend by not only singing the blues, but living them — and that her entire persona has been self-constructed with “legend” status in mind. I think the story is a bit far fetched. Hannaham wants us to believe in a self fulfilled prophecy. The truth is Winehouse is a drug addict that stumbled across a HIT song and it will probably never happen again. This is a case where lightning won’t strike twice!

The King Of The Album Charts: Chris Daughtry sold 3.2 million copies of his self-titled debut, making it the most popular album of the year followed by Akon, whose “Konvicted” sold 2.7 million; the “Hannah Montana” soundtrack with 2.5 million copies sold; Fergie’s “The Dutchess,” which sold 2.4 million; and 2005’s “American Idol” champ Carrie Underwood, whose “Some Hearts” sold 2.3 million copies.

Former American Idol contestants Carrie Underwood and Daughtry were two of the biggest sellers, but 2008 is looking a bit gloomier for the American Idol Franchise. Music sales from the latest contestants including Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks are spiraling down. Of course being a crowned a winner doesn’t mean you will selling anything, but it remains to be seen if American Idol can find the talent to keep Americans interested.

Selling 6 Million Records in the 21st Century is rare. The music business is a business of ‘exceptions’ and some artists defied the odds including Nickelback. USA Today pointed out an interesting statistic that only just 15 new albums released since 2000 have sold more than Nickelback.

Nickelback enjoyed 100+ consecutive weeks in the top 30 of Billboard’s album chart and sold over 6 Million Records WITHOUT dominating the sex-celeb driven tabloids, gracing the cover of magazines, and giving away free music. Rather than digging up a phony story and kissing up to wannabe celeb Perez Hilton, Nickelback did it the right way.

So what is the right way?

Chad can write a song and the band has radio appeal. Nickelback can be heard on adult contemporary and rock stations. Five songs from the album have appeared on Nielsen BDS’ multi-format national radio airplay chart, all reaching No. 25 or higher. Also, the band never stopped touring. The band toured in 2005 all they way through 2006 – 2007 rarely taking time off.

Nickelback’s catchy rock n roll songs is the main ingredient for success. They write classic formulated rock songs that don’t stray from the big rock sounds of the 70’s and 80’s – big guitars, gritty vocals, well defined choruses, climatic bridges, and soundtrack lyrics. Of course Chris Daughtry delivered the same rock and got the same results with his mega platinum record.

Nickelback’s success fuels the anger of hungry artists and half assed critics who want to re-define rock n roll to their personal taste. As USA Today depicted,’Nickelback’s traditional path to long-term prosperity contrasts with the way other mega-sellers did it’.

Other artists that will eventually top 6 million include Carrie Underwoods ‘Some Hearts’, Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Breakaway’, and The Dixie Chicks ‘Home’.