XL wins two-horse race for Radiohead.

XL Recordings secures Radiohead rest-of-world deal ahead of EMI

Radiohead's managers were on a plane bound for the States last week just hours after it was revealed the band had signed a recording deal with XL Recordings for the world outside North America and Japan.

The tie-up, covering seventh studio album In Rainbows, finally brought to an end many months of speculation about the band's future label home in the UK and other territories. It also dashed any hopes by EMI that the major would be able to extend its relationship with the band, which covered their first six albums and concluded with the release of last studio offering Hail To The Thief in 2003.

Ahead of the planned physical release of In Rainbows this January following the much-discussed name-your-price download and #40 boxed-set versions, Courtyard Management's Chris Hufford and Bryce Edge are still to unveil deals covering North America and Japan. As the pair headed off to the US last Thursday, the only detail confirmed was that the band would be signed to different labels in North America, Japan and the rest of the world. In the US, speculation has suggested the album will be released by Side One, a label spun off from Coran Capshaw's management company, Red Light, in tandem with another of Capshaw's companies, ATO Records.

XL's success in winning the signatures of Radiohead in what is understood to have been a two-horse race with EMI follows the indie's success with Thom Yorke's debut solo album ...