It’s easy to be all ‘2.0′ and ‘open source’ when you’ve got nothing to lose. It’s an entirely different thing if you’re one of the biggest rock bands of our time (and indisputably the most influential band of the fin de siècle of the 20th century). I’m talking about Radiohead here. After they let their fans download their newest album directly form their website for free (paying was optional) and their innovative idea of selling the several separate tracks to their single ‘nude’, they’ve now put the source code of their new video ‘house of cards‘ online for all the vid-techie-fans out there to manipulate. (I’m a BIG sucker for ‘making of’ films, so that site’s an absolute treat for me…)

When I bought the DVD of the brilliant David Payne film ‘About Schmidt’ it included as an extra, some edits of the opening sequence, made by different editors. Very entertaining and inspiring to watch. The various remixes of ‘nude’ mainly proved the brilliance of Radiohead themselves; none of the remixes came close to the original. I still can’t wait to see some of the ‘fan-made’ video version of House of Cards. You may call Radiohead whatever you want, but you cannot deny the fact that their innovative ideas for making their fans experience their music keep revolutionizing the music industry.

For some reason, let’s go into what it was, I was searching online for the name of that robot on the ‘old’ Buck Rogers’ series. (During my search I also found out that apparently the coolest member of the Battlestar Gallactica series (the robotdog Muffit) did not make it into the new one, which could almost be considered a criminal act, but that’s an entirely different posting,) When I read it’s name, Twiki, I suddenly remember one of my favourite lyrics of all time: ‘Andrew’s a starfighter pilot‘ by Snow Patrol. At some point Gary Lightbody sings: “He’s better than James Kirk or Twiki…”. even though that’s some bold statement (to boldly state where no statement has gone before), that’s not what this post is about. It’s about popularity, or to be more precise: Do I like alternative popbands less when they become popular, or do they become popular when I start liking them less, i.e. they start making a different kind of music.

My first example is of course: Snow Patrol. About a decade ago they were signed on the no-less-than-brilliant music label ‘Jeepster‘, also the label of Belle & Sebastian and Looper. They released two fantastic albums ‘Music for polar bears’ (1998 ) and ‘when it’s all over we still have to clean up’ (2001) before they switched labels to Polydor and started hitting the charts. I am very happy for them that they’ve become so popular but I also a bit sad that to do so, they had to let go of the wonderful quirky musical bits, and brilliantly bizarre lyrics. On the band’s website I read that mr. Garrett ‘Jacknife’ Lee (a charming name) can be credited for finding their new sound. In my humble opinion, he should be accused with it, not credited. I still consider Snow Patrol to be ‘okay’, but only in the way I’d call Coldplay ‘okay’. I hesitate to write this but I feel like one of my favourite bands has …erm… ’sold out’. ‘Chasing Cars’ is a typical crowdpleaser, but nothing as groundbreaking as ‘Get balsemic vinegar, quickly you fool’. Am I perhaps just jealous?

Another band that used to be great; Korn. Their first self entitled album created a whole new music genre: ‘nu metal‘. It’s one of the best things I ever heard. Then they became popular and it appeared they weren’t picked up by the mainstream, but swallowed by it. The edge was gone, they started producing more of the same, but watered down. Did many original fans of Extreme, Mr. Big and Ugly Kid Joe still remain fans after ‘More than words’, ‘be with you’ and ‘cats in the cradle’? Didn’t anyone learn anything from Kiss?

I heard that the British punkband Chumbawamba lost almost all of its fanbase after they scored a big hit with their single Tubthumping. Was that beacuse they radically changed their music? Or was it just not ‘punk’ to score a hit? But alternative popmusic doesn’t necisarilly have a problem with hits. The biggest popband out there, Radiohead, had a larger than life hit at the start of their career with ‘Creep‘.

I guess it will always be difficult to really figure it out since music is such an emotional thing. When bands we love change their music and become popular and mainstream, we feel let down and respond like they’ve broken our hearts. But perhaps the band has just moved on to different music which just ‘happens’ te become really big. And perhaps they have not ’sold out’ at all. I guess I’ll just go and play my old Snow Patrol albums for old times’ sake.

This just in: Rumour has it that the former Dutch alternative popband ‘Long Evans’ are regrouping for a new album and international tour. Sources around the band reveal that both album and tour might be called: “Music 2.0″.

Their new album will consist of an empty CD-R on which you can record your own music and an empty inlay in which you can write your own texts. The band are currently rehearsing their new material for the live performances. They plan to stare mindlessly into a void while the audience generates it’s own content in the ‘Long Evans environment’ on stage. Design for the tour however, will be impecable.

Both the music-journalists and the financial analysts I we have contacted about this press release have responded enthusiastically. It is expected that Long Evans will sell their new works to Google, AOL, Yahoo or any other of these User Generated Content/ 2.0 believers for several million dollars within a year.

For more information on the new Long Evans release, please contact their management at: longevans@cultblender.org.

Radiohead has been one of the most innovative bands for years. In the evolution of music since the release of OK Computer and since their latest album ‘In Rainbows‘ when it comes to ‘making a living for yourself as a rockband‘.

It’s a good thing I’ve taken up the habit of actually going through the thousands of spam e-mails I receive every wee, otherwise I might have completely missed the e-mail that had the subject line: ‘Remix nude for Radiohead’. (Tip: The word ‘nude’ doesn’t do well in most spamfilters.) What’s the e-mail about? Well, Mr. Yorke and friends give their fans the opportunity to buy the several stems of the track (A stem being the separate track of one particular instrument, like the drums keyboard, guitar, bass or vocals).

Buyers are invited to use these tracks to make their own remix of the song ‘Nude’ by Radiohead which is their next single in the UK. These remixes can be uploaded, Remixers can install ‘widgets’ on their personal sites (myspace, facebook etc) to atract extra traffic, their remixes will be judged, visitors can vote for their favorite remixes et cetera. Basically: it all sounds like a very clever and good idea. Radiohead makes a little extra money on their track and by providing a product that their fans will actually love (talk about marketing!) and they will also get a lot of extra PR because of this, which is also very useful when releasing a new single. And all this without losing any ’streetcredibility’. If there is one thing Radiohead is not, then it’s a bunch of corporate sellouts.

After their innovative ‘download our album and pay as you see fit’ and their In Rainbows video competition, they’ve added another new chapter to ‘music for you and me, not the f#@ing industry.’

You may click here for more information about the Nude remixes.
And should you for some inexplicable reason have a hard time locating it, the top 10 of most popular remixes can be found (naturally) here.