Just a few weeks ago, OK Go frontman Damian Kulash contributed a brave op-ed to The New York Times which criticized EMI for stopping video embedding on other websites. Now, it seems as though that column was OK Go’s parting shot: the band very recently announced their departure from the label via a YouTube video.

EMI released a sufficiently polite statement that read, “We’ve really enjoyed our relationship with OK Go. They’ve always pushed creative boundaries and have broken new ground, particularly with their videos. We wish them the greatest success for the future.” Likewise, Kulash said in the video, “We’d like to thank the people at EMI Music who have worked so hard on our behalf.” Way to stay amicable about it. Props.

We’re certain the band will reveal more plans in the coming months or year, but so far, their main priority seems to be re-releasing Of the Blue Colour of the Sky on their own new label this April, oddly named Paracadute Recordings.

Despite their latest LP selling only approximately 20,000 copies thus far, their latest video for “This Too Shall Pass” has enjoyed 7,590,101 views at the time of this story’s publication. Now that embedding restrictions don’t apply to them anymore, will their album sales also increase? It’s difficult to say, but perhaps OK Go know what they’re doing.

(Digital Spy)

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Danger Mouse (nee Brian Burton) teamed up last year with Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous) and film director David Lynch to collaborate on an interesting project which brought together tons of big names, such as Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, The Flaming Lips, and James Mercer of The Shins (and now Broken Bells, Mercer’s new band with Burton). That giant collaborative effort came to be known as Dark Night of the Soul.

Although the details were pretty ambiguous at the time, EMI couldn’t release the album, but accompanying books were sold. Each book came with a blank CD-R, indirectly instructing the buyer to download the album from file sharing sites.

If there was a dispute between Burton and EMI, it has since cleared up, because EMI has agreed to officially release Dark Night of the Soul this year, “hopefully [...] in June or something like that,” according to Burton.

The uberpowerful major label recently released this official statement: “We can confirm that EMI are working with Brian Burton AKA Danger Mouse again, and are delighted to be doing so.” –EMI

I suppose this is good news, especially for people who still love physical formats. Look out for Dark Night of the Soul this summer on EMI.

(BBC 6Music News)

Hot Chip fans will be glad to know that the band’s upcoming release One Life Stand is being streamed in its entirety on their MySpace page. The full album stream comes a little more than a week before the official release date (February 8 via EMI), which has long been customary for MySpace album streams.

The play counts are a little low thus far–go and show Hot Chip some love!

In a world where album sales are not what they used to be, corporate music giants such as Universal Music Group and Virgin Media are working to at least mitigate any losses. Their solution? Offer music fans the opportunity for unlimited downloads and streaming at a flat monthly rate (Very doubtful that they would take a Radiohead approach on this one).

Universal was hoping to already offer the service, but due to some conflicting opinions with partners EMI and Sony, the launch date for the service has been postponed. There are those pesky legal debates getting in the way, such as, “What exactly does ‘unlimited’ mean, anyway?” and “That rate is far too low. Can’t we charge more?”

The Guardian has reported that this current arrangement (ten pounds per month for unlimited downloads) seems unlikely, and it’s more likely that these corporations would cap the number of downloads to a few albums per month at the ten-pound price level. (Note: The debate over this has primarily taken place in the UK, hence the presence of “pounds” in this article)

These large music corporations seem to maintain the fear that people will subscribe and download as much as they can during their month of subscription, which, they believe, will keep the customers from buying more music in the future. But as The Guardian reports, other companies who offer a similar service have claimed that few customers download huge amounts from their service. It seems as though Sony and EMI have little to worry about.

If this service ever comes to fruition, it will be interesting to see how such a service will shape the future of the music industry.

Pink Floyd

The Final Cut

[EMI/Harvest; 1983]

Links: Pink Floyd | Harvest | Purchase on Insound

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Lily Allen says she will not be releasing another album, and has turned down a new recording contract from label EMI, reports NME. The announcement was reportedly posted on her blog, which has since been removed. Allen’s previous two records both reached the top spot in several countries.

She is said to be considering a career in acting. The decision is partly down to financial issues, with Allen admitting ‘the days of me making money releasing music have gone’. The singer supposedly made just £50,000 from first album Alright Still, despite it selling over 2.6 Million copies.

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US Tracklisting

1. Return of the North Star (feat. Papu Wu)
2. House of Flying Daggers (feat. Inspectah Deck,Ghostface Killah and Method Man)
3. Sonny’s Missing (Produced by Pete Rock)
4. Pyrex Vision (Produced by Marley Marl)
5. Cold Outside (feat. Ghostface Killah and Sugar Bang)
6. Black Mozart (feat. Inspectah Deck)
7. New Wu (feat. Method Man and Ghostface Killah)
8. Penitentiary (feat. Ghostface Killah)
9. Surgical Gloves
10. Broken Safety (feat. Jadakiss and Styles P)
11. Canal Street
12. Ason Jones
13. Have Mercy (feat. Beanie Sigel and Blue Raspberry)
14. 10 Bricks (feat. Cappadonna and Ghostface Killah)
15. Fat Lady Sings
16. Catalina (feat. Lyfe Jennings)
17. We Will Rob You (feat. Slick Rick, GZA and Masta Killa)
18. About Me
19. Mean Streets (feat. Inspectah Deck and Ghostface Killah)
20. Kiss The Ring (feat. Inspectah Deck and Masta Killa)
21. South Star (feat. Papa Wu)

UK Tracklisting

1. Return to the North Star ft Papu Wu
2. House of Flying Daggers ft Deck, Ghostface Killah, Method Man
3. Sonny’s Missing
4. Pyrex Vision
5. Cold Outside ft Suga Bang, Ghostface
6. Godfather ft Inspectah Deck
7. New Wu ft Method Man, Ghostface Killah
8. Penitentiary ft Ghostface Killah
9. Criminology 09 ft Ghostface Killah
10. Fat Lady Sings
11. Canal Street
12. 10 Bricks ft Cappadonna, Ghostface Killah
13. G-hide ft Ghostface Killah
14. Rockstar ft Inspectah Deck, Gza
15. Catalina ft. Busta Ryhmes
16. 40 Deuce ft Jadakiss, Styles P
17. Walk Wit Me
18. We Will Rob You ft Slick Rick, Gza, Masta Killah
19. Have Mercy ft Beanie Siegal
20. Surgical Gloves
21. Nigga Me
22. Mean Streets ft Inspectah Deck,
23. Kiss the Ring ft Inspectah Deck, Masta Killah
24. Ason Jones Prod by J-Dilla

It looks like the UK will be getting all of the extra ‘mixtape tracks’ like “Criminology 09″ and “G-Hide”. Anyone doubting the whole two tracklists thing should check out Raekwon’s Twitter.

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 is due out September 8th on EMI/IceH2O Records.

In another mind-numbing move, EMI has decided to stop selling their music to mom & pop stores. These independent stores were not necessarily bad buyers, they’re the ones stocking EMI’s catalog as well as their new releases. So why would EMI end their relations with paying retailers? The reason, because EMI claims they have to start cutting down on their costs as well as trying to encourage costumers to buy their products at one-stops instead of independent retailers.

This is a very odd move considering that the record labels have been dealing with rough times, with the decline of CD sales and lack of adaptation to file-sharing. Perhaps this is move done out of spite for carrying the music of independent artists who choose not to sign with major labels such as EMI. At the end of the day, only EMI themselves know their true incentives. But, whether this will hurt EMI or the mom & pop shops more in the long run will remain to be seen.

Say what you will about EMI, but their Radiohead issues (aside from the ‘Best Of’ compilation) have been great. Radiohead’s Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief are getting the reissue treatment similar to that that their first three albums received earlier this year. The reissues will be made available in 2-Disc and 3-Disc sets on August 25.

Yes, the band detests the very idea of these reissues, but look at the positives.
-The reissues aren’t unnecessarily remastered to compete in the “loudness wars”
-All of the B-sides and extras are excellent
-The Canal performance has never been officially released before
-At the very least, this will expose more people to the band

The only question now is, will EMI release any more Radiohead material after this? Will they even be able to?

Reissue track listings via the ‘Fork:

Kid A (Collectors Edition)

CD1 (original album):

01 Everything in Its Right Place
02 Kid A
03 The National Anthem
04 How to Disappear Completely
05 Treefingers
06 Optimistic
07 In Limbo
08 Idioteque
09 Morning Bell
10 Motion Picture Soundtrack

CD2:

BBC Radio One Evening Session [11/15/00]:

01 Everything in Its Right Place
02 How to Disappear Completely
03 Idioteque
04 The National Anthem

Lamacq Live in Concert: Victoria Park, Warrington, England [10/02/00]:

05 Optimistic

Canal+ Studios [04/28/01]:

06 Morning Bell
07 The National Anthem
08 How to Disappear Completely
09 In Limbo
10 Idioteque
11 Everything in Its Right Place
12 Motion Picture Soundtrack

I Might Be Wrong – Live Recordings:

13 True Love Waits (Live)

Special Collectors Edition DVD

“Later… With Jools Holland: [06/09/01]:

01 The National Anthem
02 Morning Bell
03 Idioteque

Amnesiac (Collectors Edition)

CD1 (original album):

01 Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box
02 Pyramid Song
03 Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
04 You and Whose Army?
05 I Might Be Wrong
06 Knives Out
07 Morning Bell/Amnesiac
08 Dollars & Cents
09 Hunting Bears
10 Like Spinning Plates
11 Life in a Glasshouse

CD2

“Pyramid Song” single:

01 The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
02 Trans-Atlantic Drawl
03 Fast-Track
04 Kinetic

“Knives Out” single:

05 Worrywort
06 Fog
07 Cuttooth
08 Life in a Glasshouse (Full Length Version)

Canal+ Studios [04/28/01]:

09 You and Whose Army?
10 Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box
11 Dollars and Cents
12 I Might Be Wrong
13 Knives Out
14 Pyramid Song

I Might Be Wrong – Live Recordings:

15 Like Spinning Plates (Live)

Special Collectors Edition DVD:

Music videos:

01 Pyramid Song
02 Knives Out
03 I Might Be Wrong
05 Push Pulk/Spinning Plates

“Top of the Pops” [05/25/01]:

06 Pyramid Song

“Later… With Jools Holland” [06/09/01]:

07 Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box
08 Knives Out
09 Life in a Glasshouse
10 I Might Be Wrong

“Top of the Pops” [8/17/01]:

11 Knives Out

Hail To The Thief (Collectors Edition)

CD1 (original album):

01 2 + 2 = 5
02 Sit Down. Stand Up.
03 Sail to the Moon
04 Backdrifts
05 Go to Sleep
06 Where I End and You Begin
07 We Suck Young Blood
08 The Gloaming
09 There There
10 I Will
11 A Punchup at a Wedding
12 Myxomatosis
13 Scatterbrain
14 A Wolf at the Door

CD2:

“There There” single:

01 Paperbag Writer
02 Where Bluebirds Fly

“Go to Sleep” single:

03 I Am Citizen Insane
04 Fog (Again) (Live)
05 Gagging Order
06 I Am a Wicked Child

“2+2=5″ single:

07 Remyxomatosis (Cristian Vogel RMX)
08 There There (First Demo)
09 Skttrbrain (Four Tet RMX)
10 I Will (Los Angeles Version)

“Jo Whiley Show” [05/28/03]:

11 Sail to the Moon

Com Lag:

12 2+2=5 [Live at Earls Court, London, 11/26/03]

“Zane Lowe” [12/08/03]:

13 Go to Sleep

Special Collectors Edition DVD:

Music videos:

01 There There
02 Go to Sleep
03 2 + 2 = 5
04 Sit Down. Stand Up.

05 2 + 2 = 5 (Live at Belfort Festival)

“Later… With Jools Holland” [05/27/03]

06 There There
07 Go to Sleep
08 2 + 2 = 5
09 Where I End and You Begin