Pitchfork: Radiohead Offer Downloads For Charity

There are few philosophies that topnotch musicians can actually agree on: 1) War sucks, 2) When war affects children, it really sucks, and 3) File-sharing cuts profits. In a charitable effort to raise money for children in war zones and eliminate media giants from absorbing their earnings, Radiohead are releasing their back catalog online for the first time ever, on War Child Music.

War Child, an organization raising money and awareness about innocent victims of war, has long worked with some of the world's most well-known recording artists. They organize concerts and fundraisers, and sell a wide selection of downloadable rare tracks, exclusive album cuts, and full-lengths on warchildmusic.com. Radiohead is participating in the website's "all exclusive all good all for charity" mantra by selling mp3s of every album, single, and live performance through the charity's website.

The group resisted distributing its material through digital music providers before, according to Chartsingles.net, and they have experienced losses and frustrations with albums (such as Hail to the Thief) when tracks hit the internet before they hit record stores. Despite the risk of losing money with downloads, artists like Bj�rk, Morcheeba, Oasis, and Iggy Pop have also jumped on the provide-for-a-good-cause bandwagon; and all proceeds will go to children affected by war.

Prices for all tracks and albums on War Child Music vary and are in British pounds (and we all know the U.S. dollar is worthless right now), but it's for the kids.