Radiohead's managers say they advised the band to split

Radiohead's managers advised the band to split up while they were struggling to make In Rainbows, Brian Message told a Music Managers Forum event in Dublin, the Irish Times reports. Message, a director of Courtyard Management, says he and two of his partners gave the advice after the band's EMI contract had run out. The songs were written, but in the studio they could not get the sound they wanted. The band were tired, and ignored them. Radiohead are a once-in-a-generation act, but you have to be honest if it's not working.³

At the same event, Message said that letting buyers name their own price for the In Rainbows download was an idea two of his Courtyard partners came up with. Band and managers were both excited to try something brave. Selling it over the internet reached 173 countries, he said, at a distribution cost of under three cents a copy.

Message calls himself an accountant who loves music, and he puts Courtyard out of step with the record business on file-sharing. Peer-to-peer sharing that is not for profit should be made legal, he argues, with the money for artists coming through a licence. As a free market advocate I never thought I'd say this but we will have to have government intervention to force the internet service providers to adopt a licensing model.¹