TOOL Frontman Questions RADIOHEAD Album Strategy

According to The Pulse of Radio, TOOL frontman Maynard James Keenan admitted to Spinner.com on Friday (November 16) that he's skeptical about RADIOHEAD's recent digital release of its new album, "In Rainbows". Keenan said that it was easy for a band as popular as RADIOHEAD to let its fans pay what they want for the record, explaining, "I love RADIOHEAD. 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."

While Keenan believes that the distribution of music has entered a new era, he told The Pulse of Radio that it will still have its share of problems. "One thing that I see the musicians wanting is more independence and, you know, more control over their destiny," he said. "The one downside to it is that for the most part, the reason they make music is because they're damaged goods and they're generally not that bright when it comes to making business decisions. So eventually the vampires that survive the aftermath of the industry collapse will figure out a way to get their fingers back into these guys."

Keenan told Spinner.com that giving away music could hurt smaller acts, saying, "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. Well, if the people that got it would actually have paid for (it),these guys may have been able to afford another record 'cause guess what, there are no more labels."

Keenan issued the debut album from his project PUSCIFER, titled "V Is For Vagina", through his own label last month.

TOOL kicked off a new North American tour last week and plays Monday night (November 19) in Tulsa, Oklahoma.