Radiohead’s Catalog Changes Labels, B-Sides Removed From Streaming Services
A number of Radiohead special edition tracks and B-sides have disappeared from streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music due to a change in the licensing of the band’s catalog. Some Radiohead obsessives on Reddit noticed the change earlier today, which now displays the rightsholders for each record as XL Recordings (part of Beggars Group) rather than Warner Music (which acquired Parlophone from UMG in 2013).
“As Radiohead’s catalog has changed labels, some content has been removed. The core catalog is still available,” Spotify clarified on Twitter. There’s a few possibilities as to what may have happened here: Either XL bought the back catalog for themselves, or Radiohead bought the rights back from WMG and are distributing through XL. It wouldn’t be their first time working with the label, as Thom Yorke releases solo and Atoms For Peace material through them. It also lends fuel to the speculation fire that Radiohead are gearing up to release a new album, and maybe a label change would be the first step, though as of a few weeks ago it wasn’t finished yet. We’ve reached out to Beggars Group for clarification.
UPDATE: Billboard contextualizes the move amidst WMG’s previously agreed upon divestment of assets to independent labels, and points to this statement from WMG:
We are making good progress with the voluntary divestment process that Impala/Merlin and WMG agreed as part of our acquisition of Parlophone Label Group. Numerous independent labels are involved in these negotiations and we are not commenting on individual deals at this stage. We expect to make a joint announcement with Impala/Merlin in due course.
UPDATE 2: An XL spokesperson tells us:
This is the first step in the transfer of Radiohead’s back catalogue from Parlophone to XL. The main albums are being made available in their original form as a start, before non-LP material is reconfigured.