By Brooke Fortune 24101712

Radiohead are one of the most iconic and well known alternative rock bands in the world, managing to consistently keep the public eye on themselves from their rapid rise to fame with their debut single Creep in 1992, into the 2000’s and up until the present day, selling out a UK and European arena tour, and while they hold onto their status as some of the best songwriters of all time, they utilize other strategies alongside their music to reach a much larger audience.

Despite their popularity, Radiohead have always associated themselves with the outsiders, both in the subject matter of their songs (i.e. “I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo”) and in the sound itself, like the self-oscillating delays and distorted vocals that can be found in OK Computer. This association with the strange went hand in hand with the American grunge boom of the 90s, as audiences began looking for an alternative to the rock and pop music that dominated the 80s.

The Shift To Electronic Music

Coming off the success of their 1997 album OK Computer, the band would remove themselves from the guitar heavy sound of their 90s albums and release Kid A, relying much more heavily on synthesizers, drum machines and other electronics. This would’ve been a big risk at the time, as such a large jump in genres could leave their existing audience disappointed, and could struggle to draw in new fans, however, as one of their main selling points was in having a different and experimental sound already, the appeal of the band was not lost, and the album still sounded authentically Radiohead-like, often credited as one of the greatest albums of all time (Rolling Stone, 2023).

This also helped to attract new fans, who may not have been interested in the alt-rock, guitar dominated sounds of their previous albums, and were much more interested in the futuristic, almost alien tones of tracks like Everything In Its Right Place, Idioteque and Kid A, as well as showing that the band were not interested in fitting into any given genre, but rather, they were interested in making the music they wanted to make, creating a feeling of authenticity and distinguishing them from many artists who might try to cater their sound for mainstream appeal over genuine expression.

Experimental Release Formats

In 2007, the band released “In Rainbows”. The release of this album was very unique at the time due to the method in which it was released, which could almost be seen as a glimpse into the future, in keeping with the Radiohead brand. Not only did the band initially self-release the album without a record label like with their previous releases, but the album was initially only released online as a digital download. It is important to bear in mind that in 2007, the internet was far from what we know it as today. The first iPhone was only released a matter of months before and Spotify wouldn’t be launched for another year. However the prevalence of the iPod at the time, as well as the networks of file sharing services like Limewire and Napster during this era (Hugh McIntire, Forbes, 2018) taught the world that digital music was here to stay, and radiohead were eager to experiment with this new distribution method.

This method of releasing music was also much cheaper, as no physical discs or cassettes had to be printed, meaning the band could afford to release the album under a “pay what you want” model. Despite many people downloading the album for free, the album still made Radiohead “an instantaneous 3 million dollars” (Scott Thill, Wired, 2009), and for those who didn’t pay, the free album was a brilliant promotional tool to introduce people to the band, and drive ticket and merchandise sales later on.

These are all examples of times the band employed the Blue Ocean marketing strategy (W. Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne, 2004), finding untapped marketplaces, and using them to create unique products and experiences for consumers, from their beginnings as an alternative sound to classic rock, to their experiments with music distribution.

Appearances In Other Media

Radiohead are also well known for their appearances in films and television, in shows like The Bear, Invincible and Peaky Blinders, and in films such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Vanilla Sky and Incendies (Arun Starkey, 2021). Radiohead’s hard-hitting and emotional style often leads to their songs becoming the soundtrack to climactic and memorable moments on screen. Many of these moments get shared around a lot online between friends, and people who oftentimes may have little to no previous interest in radiohead.

The band is also well known for their song “Spectre”, which was originally supposed to score the opening to the James Bond film of the same name, however the interesting story behind the song itself got audiences talking about it, spreading the word and

Band Members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are also known for their work on soundtracks within the film industry itself, with Greenwood famously scoring films including There Will Be Blood, One Battle After Another and We Need To Talk About Kevin, among others, and having a name in a big name Hollywood like this can certainly help spread themselves to a fresh audience.

This is similar to how viral marketing strategies work, creating something outside of the music to attract a different audience in a different way, and creating a different sort of connection. Many songs, including Radiohead’s songs, see a large increase of streams and sales when featured in other media, and can create new fans and followers who may have been otherwise unreachable.

Bibliography:

Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone – The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time (2023): https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/radiohead-kid-a-4-1063213

W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, Harvard Business Review – Blue Ocean Strategy (2004): https://hbr.org/2004/10/blue-ocean-strategy

Hugh McIntyre, Forbes – The Piracy Sites That Nearly Destroyed The Music Industry: What Happened To Limewire (2018): https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2018/03/21/what-happened-to-the-piracy-sites-that-nearly-destroyed-the-music-industry-limewire/

Arun Starkey, Far Out Magazine – Five Times Radiohead Made Films Better With Their Music (2021): https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/five-times-radiohead-made-films-better-with-their-music

Scott Thill, Wired – Sonic Youth Slams Radiohead’s In Rainbows Model (2009): https://www.wired.com/2009/06/sonic-youth-slams-radioheads-in-rainbows-model