Radiohead's latest single "Nude" was this week's "hot-shot debut" (highest charting new entry) on the Billboard Hot 100. This is based entirely on the song's infectious, radio-ready hook, a hot new MTV-ready video, and a guest verse from Rick Ross. Or, perhaps, the fact that the band joined with iTunes for the "Nude" remix contest, in which fans buy the song's stems (bass, drums, vocals, guitar, strings) and put together their own remixes. All the stems count together as one song, so "Nude" was downloaded a shitload of times and debuted at number 37 on the charts, right ahead of Lifehouse, Linkin Park, and a song featuring T-Pain. I knew that when I first heard In Rainbows, there was something special about "Nude," that it had the pop gravitas to ride the charts and rank alongside "Creep" as the biggest hits of the band's career.
But seriously, this stem-sell approach (OK, that is officially the wittiest, most clever play on words of all time, and you're bitter you didn't think of it) could be a deadly marketing strategy. "4 Minutes" remix contest, anyone?
2 comments:
Thom must have been going to business school during the hiatus. Maybe he was in String's class?
haha don't even go there. String would never go for a pay-what-you-want scheme for his product. let alone avon....
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