OK Go Split With EMI

Posted on Mar 10th 2010 2:00PM by Zach Dionne
Comments

If you've seen anything about OK Go lately -- blog posts about their cool new music video, the frontman's screed in the New York Times -- you've sensed the band's unhappiness with their label. Today, the feud is finished: OK Go announced they've left EMI and will create their own company to promote their music and crazily-viral videos.

Alternative Press reports the band's new company, Paracadute, will handle their promotion and distribution as of April 1. "OK Go believe there are tremendous opportunities for artists capable of managing their own promotion and distribution," the band said in a statement. "The band, who have always controlled their publishing, merchandise, touring, and all other non-recording rights, are parting by mutual agreement with EMI Music."

The news comes weeks after OK Go frontman Damian Kulash lashed out against EMI for their staunch anti-embedding policies on the band's YouTube clips. As of this posting, OK Go's first viral video smash, 'Here It Goes Again,' aka the treadmill video, remains unavailable for embedding. The same goes for the band's recent marching band ensemble for 'This Too Shall Pass.'

"Blogs, Web sites and video aggregators serve as cultural curators, daily collecting the items that will interest their audiences the most," Kulash wrote in the New York Times. "By ignoring the power of these tastemakers, our record company is cutting off its nose to spite its face," Kulash wrote in the New York Times.

Looks like OK Go didn't read the the IFPI's report that labels are still relevant.