Personalized brand experiences; Radiohead's Nude Re/Mix

By now you most likely know about Radiohead's experimental release program for their newest album "In Rainbows". Basically, the band set up a site where their fans could buy the album for whatever price they wanted to pay. People could have paid $0 or $100 if they wanted. You can read my original post along with what I decided to pay here.

Radiohead is continuing to find innovative ways to allow fans to own the brand in a personalized way. The latest idea is a contest in partnership with Apple and their Garageband product. It allows people to buy their song "Nude" (track three) with all of the independent pieces of the track. So, you can buy the drum track, the bass track, the guitar track, the strings track and the voice track all independently.

Once people have the pieces of the track, they're encouraged to remix the song using Garageband to create a completely unique take on it. Once they have a file they then go to the site www.radioheadremix.com and load their track into the community. Once there, people can vote for each track and create a widget to promote their entry.

This is a fantastic idea as a way to allow fans to get involved with the Radiohead brand, create something that is their own and join in a community of other, like minded fans. More companies, bands, products, teams, etc. need to look at this model as a way to create deeper engagement. Providing raw assets that can be used to create original, personal by-products could be powerful. It's not for every brand, but for Radiohead and their fan base it works well. Take a listen to some of the songs, they're quite incredible and took an obvious time investment.

Technorati Tags:
community, marketing, Matt Dickman, Radiohead, social media, Techno//Marketer, trends, widget, branding

Comments

[Ed Healy]

I wonder how this model would work for ebook micro-releases, such as serialized novels and the like.

[TaulPaul]

The big kicker. Allow remixers to sell their song with a percentage of revenue going back to Radiohead.

[Matt Dickman]

Ed -- I think it would work for e-books, but they'd have to be stories with a great connection to the audience and a community around them. (Thinking Harry Potter.)

Paul -- That's a fantastic idea to monetize this. I wonder what fans would think? I think they'd be all for it, the value is there for them and the group.

[taulpaul]

I had talked my friend, who is an VP at a major label, about Creative Commons, separating the tracks, and attribution for that license on reselling the remixed product. This was well over a year ago.

You made a great point. This is not for every band. In fact, she mentioned many bands, in the position to be influential leaders on this front, would be very hesitant in doing the fore-mentioned tactics.

I'm just glad someone is doing this.

[Adam Singer]

i'm a music producer - but i use ableton - the fact that they make you use garage band ruined this promotion for me...

it's not an 'open' remix to the music community unless you're free to use any software/gear you want - in my mind they did this wrong, because i know plenty of other guys who would love to remix their stuff

[Matt Dickman]

Paul -- I am glad somebody is doing this too. What a great way to connect and create some really killer content.

Adam -- I think the Garageband mention is for the whole partnership with Apple. If you read the rules and regulations, you don't have to use Garageband to do the remix, it's just suggested. It would have been better to do this on the Indi scene, but they're getting a lot of reach with the Apple partnership.

[Adam Singer]

ahhh - i didnt look close enough

still, 'selling' the samples kinda sucks, they should just give them away!

its the antithesis of a remix contest =) all that free content with their name attached to it spreading around the web, they should encourage it

[mintyfreshbeats]

Hey everyone, check out my remix if you get a chance.

Radiohead - Nude (Minty Fresh Remix)

http://radioheadremix.com./remix/?id=1527

Thanks!