Radiohead manager Brian Message recently appeared at a seminar for the Music Managers Forum in Dublin, Ireland, where he revealed the band’s game-changing In Rainbows album release almost never happened. The Irish Times’ John Collins reports Message told the seminar that he and his partners “had actually advised the band to split up” when they had been struggling for two years to record the album.
“I’ve been lucky to work with some great artists and Radiohead are a once in a generation act,” Message added. “But you have to be honest if it’s not working. You have to have passion about what you do. I’m an accountant but I love music and I’m passionate about the artists I work with.”
It’s a testament to the band that the only options they weighed were either making an uncompromised album or splitting. As we all know by now, Radiohead eventually found the sound they were looking for and released a highly publicized “pay what you want” scheme.
Message revealed a lot more about the risky In Rainbows endeavor, but conceded that Radiohead’s business model was probably only ideal for “that band at that time.” For more, including Message’s belief in legalizing all file sharing and taxing ISPs, click here.