Tool Frontman Joins the List of Radiohead Skeptics

Lily Allen isn't the only musician questioning Radiohead's release strategy for their latest album, 'In Rainbows.' Joining the list of skeptics is Tool frontman, Maynard James Keenan. When Spinner visited Keenan at his Arizona winery for an upcoming Spinner Interview, the rocker, who is going the indie route for his own recently released Puscifer project, says the pay what you want release is easy for a band of Radiohead's stature.

"I love Radiohead," Keenan tells Spinner. "They're a great band, but I do think -- and I'll go on record now as saying I'll probably be wrong and time will tell -- what they did is a one-trick pony in a way, 'cause it might work for a publicity thing to allow people to download it, but it's very comfortable for them to be able to do that. They're going to make lots of money touring and they've already made lots of money selling records."

He also agrees with Allen that the scheme isn't fair to other bands. "The people it will affect are those in-between bands that all of a sudden got a catchy song and people start passing it around for free," he says. "Well, if the people that got it would actually have paid for [the song], these guys may have been able to afford another record 'cause guess what, there are no more labels. We're not talking about a lot of money, but to a guy who's paying his rent and trying to make this thing work and wants to focus all his attention on making music, a hundred bucks a month could've made all the difference. So now it's, 'No, dude, I gotta go get a job. We can't go on the road and promote more music 'cause I gotta pay the rent. Nobody's paying for my music. Thanks, Radiohead.'"

Before people start writing of a feud, Keenan, adds, "I'm not bagging on them. I think somebody had to do that -- somebody had to take the risk and really make that decision. I just think that's not going to save the music industry. I think it's just going to help them promote this new project."