After commissioning a study last year that found the majority of the carbon footprint of a major rock tour is created by showgoers traveling to and from the show (download the report here), Radiohead are asking fans coming out for their summer US tour to consider alternative means of transportation. Here’s the press release:

On the eve of their 2008 tour, which begins this Monday in West Palm Beach FL, Radiohead are appealing to fans to think about how they travel to and from shows.

Last year, the band commissioned carbon footprint analysts Best Foot Forward to calculate the carbon generated on their two previous US tours. The report showed that fans’ travel to and from the shows accounted for the greatest proportion of the CO2 generated during each tour, something now widely accepted across the industry.

Following the report’s recommendations, Radiohead are encouraging fans to consider public transport where available, or increased carpooling for shows outside city centers. Gig goers can compare the CO2 generated by different methods of transport by visiting an online calculator on Radiohead’s website. Some of the venues have also helped by offering incentives to fans coming by public transport or in a full car.

After the tour, the band will invite ticket holders to submit information on their methods of travel so further research can be done on carbon emissions and methods to reduce them.

Radiohead’s production team will also be posting information on how the band are trying to reduce their own carbon emissions on tour without compromising the quality of the shows.

For more info, go here, and for the tour dates, take the JUMPPPPPPPP

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Prince did an amazing version of the classic Radiohead song “Creep” at Coachella. The sound here is pretty good but I think the dude was either wasted or getting knocked around by like 50k people. Either way it’s dope.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich hints that the band could follow Radiohead for an eventual digital release. With only one more album to go on their Warner Brothers Records deal Metallica looks like they’ll be leaving the major label game.

From Cnet:

“We want to be as free (as) players as possible,” Ulrich told Rolling Stone during the band’s Northern California appearance for Record Store Day. “We’ve been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor and in 27 years or however long it takes for the next record, we’ll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet.”

No, he’s not endorsing peer-to-peer sites, but there’s no mistaking what Ulrich meant. The group is considering whether to follow the lead of Radiohead and Reznor, leader of the band Nine Inch Nails. Those acts sent shock waves throughout the music industry over the past six months by distributing albums over the Web without the aid of a record company. They also offered digital versions of the albums for free.

As mentioned last Friday, Coldplay has announced a June 17th release date for their fourth album, “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.” While writing that post, something clicked on in the back of my mind: this album has the potential to either keep Coldplay’s label EMI afloat for another year, or make necessary the eventual merger of EMI Music (including its subsidiaries like Capitol, Virgin, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Def Jux, Mute and Tooth & Nail) and Warner Music Group, who currently hold the 3rd and 4th place slots in “The Big Four.” Variety agrees that “Viva…” is shaping up to be something of a high-stakes venture. EMI’s certainly hoping that Coldplay’s X&Y wasn’t this:

I remember a time, not so long ago, when a record label depended on its solid roster to make the business float, not just a handful of high-profile superstar artists. Their top sellers would go quintuple-platinum, allowing for enough extra cash to take chances on smaller artists, grow them and support them until they break through, joining the ranks of the high-sellers (we used to call such a thing “artist development”). Britain-based EMI and its subsidiaries once boasted an amazing roster including the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and The Beach Boys. Now the label seems to be relying on one or two current chart busters, in this case Coldplay, and the repackaged back catalogs of their dusty dinosaurs.

Artist development on major labels is now a ting of the past (that’s what indie labels are for, right?); there’s no new EMI artist who comes close to replacing Radiohead, who left the label in 2007 after deciding that they no longer needed a record label. EMI can release Best of Radiohead (June 3rd), but no one stands a real chance at releasing another OK Computer….save Coldplay. It’s possible that Chris Martin and company can release an album with (almost) as much impact. But if Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends does any worse than 2005’s X&Y, I wouldn’t be surprised to see EMI/Warner Music rear its head in 2009/2010.

Until then, let’s look at what EMI will be releasing to keep its head above water, after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

The Lollapalooza lineup was dropped on the Internets today - might I be probably one of many to say “holy shit, that is one hell of a lineup”. Perry Farrell has done it again and with Rage Against the Machine playing that will only fuel more rumors about an actual Rage Against the Machine new album (hey, one can hope right?). Get your hotel reservations for Chicago early… Lineup is after the jump…

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Pitchfork.tv kicks off with a bang on Monday with an exclusive Radiohead performance. The Pitchfork people have to be stoked.

It’s the final countdown. Monday, April 7 sees the much anticipated launch of Pitchfork.tv, Pitchfork’s rebuttal to the age-old complaint, “There’s nothing on.” Launching with hours of on-demand music content by the artists we love, we should recall two important facts about April 7. The day marks the birth date of Francis Ford Coppola and the end of prohibition. A day destined for the launch of a new way to view music and indie films and worthy of a toast, so grab some bubbly and hook up the speakers.

Earlier this week we gave you a rough idea of what you can expect to find at Pitchfork.tv, and we’ve got even more goodies up our sleeves. Today, we’re overcome with happiness to announce that Radiohead– yes, Radiohead– will be joining the new site’s Monday lineup with a special performance of In Rainbows [CD2] banger “Bangers & Mash,” which the band recorded exclusively for the launch of Pitchfork.tv. Shot on Wednesday (as in two days ago!) in Nigel Godrich’s basement studio, this utterly kick-ass performance will serve as the site’s first-ever music video.