According to Radiohead fansite At Ease, Jonny Greenwood isn't too happy regarding the leak. Here's what he had to say -
"So it turns out the leaked music is a stolen copy of early, unmixed edits and roughs - so we're kind of pissed off about it, to be honest. I see it like this (this is just me): there's napster-style file sharing of released music, then there's early internet distribution of what we at least consider to be a finished body of work. Then there's this - work we've not finished, being released in this sloppy way, ten weeks before the real version is even available. It doesn't even exist as a record yet.....
So yes, we're annoyed - the songs are good on the recordings, which you can hear. But we worked on them after this point until we were happy with them. This is why we're pissed off - we didn't give up on them in February (which is what you're hearing) and it's just a shame that, to your ears, we did. So of course people will still download them and hear them, I can understand the temptation. It's not you lot I'm pissed off about, it's just the situation I guess. It's stolen work, fer fuck's sake. What do you all think ? I know it'll come out for real eventually, and it'll all be fine, but I though you all might as well know what's in my head...."
Also getting into the whole album leak debate is producer Nigel Godrich. Posting on the Radiohead messageboard he said -
"Hey listen, Its not that it's not mastered........ It's not mixed! Some of it isn't even finished. comprendez?"
For a brief rundown of what all the fuss is about, read a short track by track preview here.

Hail To The Thief: Leaked tracks are stolen early recordings
Re: Hail To The Thief: Leaked tracks are stolen early recordings
ollie.
Re: Hail To The Thief: Leaked tracks are stolen early recordings
On the one hand, I understand that they want control over how their music is represented, making sure people judge it on the finished product... but then they do those jaunts to Europe to showcase work in progress material and happily let people bootleg, there's not much of a difference there, except you don't have all that nasty crowd noise.
I'm hoping Jonny's anger is directed more at the person who stole and distributed the copies rather than the fans who, eager to hear the album they'll lap up regardless, downloaded what they believed to be the final thing.
Re: Hail To The Thief: Leaked tracks are stolen early recordings
radiohead have had TONS OF MEDIA COVERAGE because of this. they have thousands of people talking and thinking and excited about them. emi have you in the palm of their filthy, song leaking, deformed hands!
tell people what they've got isn't the finished stuff, keep them interested, get them to buy the record.
YOU ARE *ALL* IDIOTS!
Re: Hail To The Thief: Leaked tracks are stolen early recordings
Re: Hail To The Thief: Leaked tracks are stolen early recordings
and really, there'snot been that much coverage on it, just in the music press, Thom has even left it to little Johnny to make comments on it etc, surely they'd have a massive campaign ready to exploit this if it were so
everyone sees conspiracys all the time, you all know that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making people think he existed.
ollie.
Re: Hail To The Thief: Leaked tracks are stolen early recordings
Re: Hail To The Thief: Leaked tracks are stolen early recordings
ollie.