Radiohead to release ‘The King of Limbs’ through Web site

Radiohead announced Monday that it will release its
eighth studio album, “The King of Limbs,” and allow fans to download it
beginning Saturday from http://www.thekingoflimbs.com/DIUSD.htm.

Unlike the 2007 release of the British quintet’s
previous studio album, “In Rainbows,” however, Radiohead fans will have
to pay for downloads of “The King of Limbs.” An MP3 version of the
album, at a high-quality audio rate of 320 kilobits per second, will be
available for $9 and a Waveform Audio File Format or WAV version (CD quality) will be sold for $14.

Special-edition physical copies of the album —
advertised as the “world’s first Newspaper Album” — will be made
available through the Web site May 9, for $48 (with MP3 download) or $53 (with WAV download), that include a CD, two 10-inch vinyl records and extensive artwork.

Standard CD and vinyl versions of the album will be made available March 28
in retail outlets through a partnership with XL Recordings, with whom
Radiohead collaborated to release “In Rainbows.” Before the physical
release of “In Rainbows,” the band made the music available as a free
digital download from its Web site, but at a lower bit rate that
dissatisfied some audiophile fans. Despite being available for free for
two months, the album went on to sell more than 3 million copies
worldwide and became one of the band’s most popular releases.

———

(c) 2011, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.