From Beyonce’s “visual album” ‘Lemonade‘ airing on HBO to the artwork for Drake’s new album ‘Views’ being released on Twitter, recording artists have been finding new ways to connect with their fans in the digital age.
On the flipside, English rock band Radiohead seem to be adopting an even more unique digital campaign strategy in the leadup to the release of their ninth studio album – stripping their social media accounts and online presence completely bare.
On Sunday, Radiohead’s Facebook page had nearly 12 million ‘likes’ for a blank page and the band’s six-year-old Twitter feed was completely empty with the last message reading “@Radiohead hasn’t tweeted yet.” Anyone clicking onto Radiohead.com was met with a plain, white screen.
Although the disappearance from the digital world may seem counter-intuitive in terms of reaching the public, the critically-acclaimed band has played with digital platforms in innovative ways in the past with much success.
The band’s seventh seventh studio album “In Rainbows” was initially released online as a pay-what-you-want download. It was a controversial and groundbreaking move which had Time Magazine calling it “easily the most important release in the recent history of the music business.” The album entered both the U.S. and U.K. charts at No. 1 and won two Grammys including Best Alternative Music Album of the year.
So is Radiohead deliberately wiping their online presence as a carefully constructed statement on the digital world? Or are the online pioneers just throwing in their hats and abandoning the digital platforms they helped develop?
One thing is for sure. Radiohead is continuing to do what they have become known for – keeping their fans guessing.
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