ANOTHER STATEMENT FROM THE GROUP - THE TRUTH
Written on June 11th, 2019This month so far has been an insane turn of events, from receiving information about the leak, to it being featured on major publications, to the band releasing it themselves based on a strange, and as far as we know, incorrect rumor of a ransom from the original bootlegger. As a group we have so much running through our minds, but unfortunately a lot of the things we have to say are regarding the misinformation being spread around.
Stories about the discs being held for ransom are untrue, and it seems that even the band believed them. The band may be misinformed, or they may intentionally be crafting a legendary version of events. It was incredibly frustrating reading the articles that got it all wrong. Now that everything is out of the bag, we believe the world deserves to know the real truth - what actually happened that led to this release. The following section outlines the events chronologically.
The Story
On May 26th, 2019, a user named Zimbra joined the Radiohead subreddit’s official Discord server, W.A.S.T.E. Central. He asked people if there were any people knowledgeable about bootlegs he could contact, as he claimed he had something he wanted to factcheck. Discord user belargu pointed him to another user named Rhett, and so they took it to the DMs.
Zimbra soon revealed to Rhett that he had acquired 18 hours of unreleased material recorded around the time OK Computer was made, and was contacting him to make sure they were never heard of before up until this point. He provided several audio files of previews to show what he had gotten was legitimate. Zimbra then claimed that he traded a rare unreleased song from another artist with someone else who provided the digital minidisc files. He planned to sell them. Beyond this, we don’t know who or where Zimbra got hold of these files.
On June 1st, Rhett added several people to a group chat - people whom he trusted, and several who are now part of the current group. He told us about what had been revealed to him, and that a leak of this magnitude is something that cannot be ignored. He then proposed a plan to recruit trusted fans to discuss the matter further. He wanted to keep this a secret in case word got to Zimbra, which could have led him to raise the price if he saw the demand.
On June 2nd, Rhett made a private server in anticipation for more people. He then asked Zimbra for the price of the files, to which he replied that he was selling each track for $500, and each live version for $50. Given the prices and the length of the discs combined, someone in the group estimated that the entire thing would cost around $150,000. This likely where the incorrect blackmailing rumor comes from.
Someone in the group searched online to figure out who Zimbra is. We soon found out that he was a very reputable leaker on a forum called leakth.is, who has sold many other rare tracks from different artists. He was also in that forum’s affiliated Discord server, where he was seen sending previews to other users. There was a leakth.is post (which is now taken down) of Zimbra selling the now-famous version of Lift for $500.
We then discussed to great lengths on what to do next. After several hours, we came to the conclusion that the band should be alerted online, particularly through Reddit. We believed that letting everyone know would have a better outcome than letting someone shell out thousands of dollars for the leak, which was essentially stolen. We all worked together to word the Reddit post properly, and Discord user dreamgazing took the initiative of posting this in the very early hours on June 3rd. People listened to the snippets and were convinced.
Moral debates aside, our post gained traction. Some news sites were already picking it up, and the announcement spread to other parts of the internet, such as r/indieheads and /mu/. Other people figured out that Zimbra was involved in this, and they were not happy. On Reddit, people were expressing disappointment that he would have the nerve to sell these for such a price, let alone even having the leak. /mu/ was very keen on getting them as soon as possible - to the point of conspiring to dox Zimbra. People were pinging him en masse on the W.A.S.T.E. Discord server. This put a lot of pressure on him.
Later that day, Zimbra approached Rhett again privately, having figured out that he had spread the previews. He was upset that he shared them, and that we claimed he was selling them for $150,000. They also had a lengthy discussion on what to do next. Zimbra came to the conclusion that he should release the leak for free to rid him of all the social pressure. He told Rhett that he would be posing as hoserama, a famous Radiohead bootlegger, to shift the blame away from him. We would like to make it clear that the actual hoserama was never involved in this.
This is the main part of the chatlog between Zimbra and Rhett, showing how Zimbra got convinced to leak the entire thing for free.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/585300093142302720/588232779087609887/ZIMBRA_CHATLOG.png
The mega.nz link was posted to W.A.S.T.E. on June 4th, 10:40 pm EDT.
As soon as we got the leak, we were so shocked at the size and the legitimacy of it that we immediately started timestamping the songs as we listened through for the first time; we figured that the least we could do was to help the community in this way. Many of the group members online at the time split the files amongst each other to get through all 17 hours quicker. This was finished in the very early morning of June 4th, and the first version of this Google Doc was posted to Reddit, particularly in this thread.
A lot more work was done to update the document to beautify the formatting and fix any inaccuracies. During this time, some more articles were made (some of which were inaccurate and had the ransom story), some journalists contacted us, and one of the group members got into contact with XL Recordings. The second version of this Google Doc was finished and updated on June 7th.
After that, we were exhausted but satisfied. We saw that the hype surrounding this leak was starting to die down, so we were preparing to take a break. However, we were in for another surprise when the band themselves released the statement from Jonny that they were uploading this officially. Even more articles were made, now spreading the ransom story. All of this has led us to this point where this statement has to be made.
Regarding Smaller Inaccuracies
There are many other rumors that are not as significant but are still untrue. For example, hoserama was not involved in any of this at all. He has come forward in AtEaseWeb stating so. He has also appeared in W.A.S.T.E. to defend himself.
There is another popular rumor spread by a Discord user that claimed he had connections in the music industry. He claimed that a disgruntled intern at XL Recordings ripped all of the discs as Colin Greenwood sat there and did nothing. This is most likely untrue, as he has also claimed bizarre things such as Thom’s son and Frank Ocean having Papa John’s together, and that Damon Albarn is 5’9”. (he isn’t!!! I was like an arm’s reach away from him when i saw him live last year and I CAN CONFIRM HE IS 5’11” - belargu) (also noah doesn’t even follow frank on instagram this is complete bullshit)
There is also a common misconception that the 18 discs are the entirety of the OK Computer sessions. They are not. They are simply a sliver of outtakes and demos during the making of this album. Who knows how much more material is out there.
News sites and journalists are also slinging around the wrong numbers. The discs - even the leaked, unedited version - add up to a total of 17 hours, not 18. The 8 minute version of Paranoid Android on Disc 5 is not 11 or 12 minutes, either. "btw huge thanks to loomer for predicting the 2012 mayan calendar and this leak's outcome!"
The Conclusion
Despite everything, we are pleasantly surprised by how everything played out and how well the band handled this. Not only are the files officially out in a higher quality, all proceeds are going to combat climate change. In all honesty, this cause deserves more attention and traction than the leak itself. We recommend you all look into the Extinction Rebellion, and to purchase the minidiscs here.
If you haven’t noticed, the official files are shorter, due to chatter and movie samples being removed. We are now working on a third version of the Doc, with timestamps matching the new audio. The front page will also be changed to honor the official photos on Bandcamp. For now, the second version will continue to be up for everyone to see - once we have completed the new one, we will update the document and push everything down like we did with the first.