Radiohead are proving innovative in the ways they are releasing their music, but on their latest effort they are still as conservative as many of the ‘make your own’ contests that take place.
For the latest single released in the UK, Nude, they are offering you the chance to remix the song - but only if you give them more money. You have to buy (yes buy!) the instrument tracks from iTunes and then you’re allowed to remix them and reload them back up the site - RadioheadRemix.
As is common, by doing so, anything you create is owned by the original IP owners and publishers. As far as I can see in the T&Cs, you don’t even have to upload it back into the site for them to claim ownership, nor do you ever get the right to a credit for your remix.
Even more interesting, there’s no contest, there’s no prize except for the opportunity for the band to listen to the remix. Are the people who are spending $4.95 on tracks and the time and effort on the remixes hoping Radiohead will give them a call and ask them to work with them? They do however agree to consult with you if they want to commercially exploit the song - not a legal necessity from their statement of terms but a good PR need. Despite all of this, it seems to have caught the imagination of fans. And that is the key - Radiohead have a BIG fanbase who will do things like this, spend more money on products from the band and then create more value for them without expectation of a return except for more music. There are few artists or bands who are in this position.
Screenshot from Radioheadremix
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