Radiohead vs. EMI
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008Radiohead has hit out at the chief of its former label after a news report claimed the rock band rejected a 3 million pound ($5.95 million) advance for its new album and demanded the rights to some of its older albums. According to the report, published last Friday by The Times of London, Radiohead’s demands to EMI Group chairman Guy Hands totaled more than 10 million pounds ($19.8 million).
In addition to the advance, the Times said the band also wanted a 3 million pound international marketing budget for the album, “In Rainbows,” while the reversion of the rights to its previous two albums would have cost EMI 4 million pounds ($7.9 million) in future earnings. The paper quoted an EMI spokesman as saying, “Radiohead were demanding an extraordinary amount of money and we did not believe that our other artists should have to subsidize their gains.”
It also quoted the band’s manager, Bryce Edge, as saying, “We were not seeking a big advance payment, or a guaranteed marketing spend as discussions never got that far.”
Representatives for EMI in London and New York were not available to comment Tuesday.
Hands’ buyout firm Terra Firma Capital Partners agreed to buy EMI in May for 2.4 billion pounds ($4.8 billion). The financier has warned artists they could be dropped if they do not work hard enough for the company. Imagine that, having to actually work for your money?
