Radiohead unveil ‘public library’, online archive with rare material: Growing trend for artists in digital age
Radiohead has unveiled an exciting new project for fans, titled Radiohead Public Library. The library pulls together and displays a vast amount of the English alternative rock band's merch and musical undertakings that have been hidden up until now. The revealed treasure chest opened on the morning of January 20 and span near three decades of works including rare tracks, live music and live performance footage, remix EPs ('TKOL RMX 1234567' and 'TKOL RMX 8'), galleries that include artwork, and even some unseen in-studio photos.
The "library", deemed quite fittingly so, as it lists a large assortment of items, both treasurable and quietly treasurable, allows fans to search deep and find some hidden gems such as Radiohead's debut EP 'Drill' which released in 1992 and even the 1993 three-track single, 'Anyone Can Play Guitar'. Fans may also dig up earlier dispatches from their W.A.S.T.E. online merch store/fan network, the full 1998 'Meeting People is Easy' documentary, links to old newsletters, individual projects from virtuoso frontman Thom Yorke, objet d'art videos of the band rehearsing and DJing during a webcast, rare merchandise and a whole lot more.
All those familiar with the group are aware that Radiohead plays around in dimensions of abstract thinking and surprise factors and W.A.S.T.E. seconds that morphed notion on the intro paragraph to the Radiohead Public Library. The intro confirms that Radiohead has always been "infuriatingly informative" and "surprising" in their endeavors and now one of the greatest chapters in the book of Radiohead is to "suddenly become incredibly informative". This creative decision to unveil a smorgasbord of informative and entertaining goodies reveals an entrepreneurial ethic to the band after years upon years of ingenious musical releases and projects that the band has worn as crowns on their heads.
Similar undertakings have been cropping up in the market lately with bands presenting new concepts on marketing their music. Travis Scott recently released what could be considered an album, 'Jackboys', in December, although it implements promoting partnering rappers featured on the album through the use of extensive music videos and also in promoting merch.
Daddy Yankee also revealed a "pop-up" museum in San Juan's Plaza Las Américas in November, according to Rolling Stone. Mariah Carey revealed a new music video in December on her hit classic 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' with newly added title 'Make My Wish Come True Edition' and although her original 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' has been a Christmas favorite till date, it reached the U.S. Number 1 within the same month.
Promoting merch and using creative marketing strategies to drive artists' names upward appear to be taking on a new form themselves. With social media and Internet usage having skyrocketed in popularity over the past decades, using such mediums in today's age has become a regular part of daily living for most and artists are adapting and evolving to such digital climates. Artists are presenting new ideas and concepts, and some, opening their vaults to old merch and even rebooting or reinventing older projects. Additionally, even Hollywood has seen the potential goldmine of rebooting classics or even rebooting stuff that released not-so-long ago. There certainly is a strength to such devices and, perhaps, if implemented respectfully in accordance to both the public's wants and needs, we could see a drastic increase in new and creative ways of marketing artists and products in the next few years.
A final thought: One needs to remember that if certain things are promoted to spark affectionate memories of classics or infuse temporal nostalgia in some way, there is a high likelihood of follow-up in positive actions. If successful in highlighting their names to the public in such unique ways, they would need to present larger quantities of fresh material, brand-new LPs, merch, and further unique works that set them apart from the rest. Could artists be hinting at unique new material to come?
You can read more on 'Jackboys' by Travis Scott here.