ATO Records frontrunner label for Radiohead

According to the New York Times, ATO (According To Our) Records, the record label that is co-owned by Dave Matthews and Coran Capshaw (DMB Manager), is the frontrunner label for U.K. world rockers Radiohead. This is quite the jump from the record labels current roster of David Gray, JEM, Gov't Mule, Ben Kweller, Mike Doughty, My Morning Jacket, etc. ATO and Red Light (both Capshaw companies) apparently will create a subsidiary called Side One that will release Radiohead’s latest album In Rainbows in American record stores. The proposed deal will license the album to the label just for a specified time period with the band ultimately keeping ownership of the recordings. The British label XL Records, which released The Eraser - Thom Yorke (singer of Radiohead), would sell the album internationally. The new Radiohead album, In Rainbows has already been released uniquely by the band on an album site where it can be downloaded for whatever price of your choosing (including zero). The band's lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood said "It's fun to make people stop for a few seconds and think about what music is worth, and that's just an interesting question to ask people." (ref) Artists have been coming to ATO for its independent nature, but all this time it has had Sony BMG-owned RCA as a sudo parent company. According to Billboard, ATO is trying to break its ties from Sony BMG and plans to release the new Greatest Hits by David Gray fully independent. Using the new Side One label may just be an easier way to skirt the ties ATO may still have. If the deal does go through it will showcase ATO, previously a niche jam-band label, as one of the prime labels for bands to consider. Check out the NY Times article for more details.