Radiohead vs. the Internet: How to Disappear Completely?

On May 1st, Radiohead began to erase certain parts of their online presence across web and social media, which - naturally - sent corners of the web into somewhat of a frenzy. Yet (as is now plain to see) the stunt was less about “deleting” or “leaving” the internet than it was launching A Moon Shaped Pool: the band’s ninth studio album. For after 12 months of speculation that the Oxford quintet had been in the studio, the sudden and dramatic spring-clean was promptly perceived by many as a sign that it was now time for the band to release something new.

Which it was, absolutely. And it also made for some terrific satire. However this particular launch campaign (and yes, we can call it a campaign) is also interesting to anyone with an interest in the weirdness and in the idiosyncrasies of life in the online age. Which should be everyone, really. 

i. What did Radiohead ‘Delete’?

Lost in the media scramble was the fact that Radiohead never actually deleted their online presence; they merely tidied up what we might loosely define as outdated information (content, if we’re being generous). In a nutshell: this comprised an aging website and about a year’s worth of Tweets and Facebook posts that when all is said and done will most likely remain on the periphery* of the Radiohead canon.

But the internet is a funny place, and using off-the-shelf social media reporting tools we can in fact take a look at these deleted items. Which just goes to show that you should always think twice before posting. But you don’t need me to tell you that.

*Having said all this, the band’s deleted Facebook posts should not be written off as unmemorable and included solo album announcements, upcoming tour dates and a rejected (sadly) James Bond theme. As below.

Fig. 1: Some of Radiohead’s Hidden Facebook Posts

ii. Ok, the Band is Still Online. What Happens Next?

In total, Radiohead’s deleted or hidden Facebook posts from the last 12 months carried with them into the abyss a cumulative total of 503,473 interactions (likes, comments, shares).

But, in the mere days to follow, renewed interest in the band more than ‘made up’ this historical engagement gap by suddenly garnering more interactions than had been accumulated - and now deleted - over the previous year. A total somewhere in the vicinity of 574,654 new interactions in about a week, such is the power of a new Radiohead album.

To be clear, the band could have launched their album in just about any way and listeners and media would have flocked to it. Yet here’s the rub, for in true Radiohead fashion an act like this exists foremostly as a mode of socio-political commentary; which in this case might be reasonably interpreted as a critique on the flimsiness of constructed realities in an age of metadata and carefully-construed Twitter biographies. Yet acts like this are also clever - and intentional - ways of drawing attention to the band; in this case a way of priming a devoted audience for a (literal) new chapter in the band’s ongoing discography.

So can Radiohead have their cake and eat it, too? Might we dare to think of something like this as both check and mate for a band with a seemingly love/hate relationship to the internet?

Fig. 2.1: Facebook Interactions Before (Deleted) & After (Organic) Album Launch

Fig. 2.2: Fan Growth On Other Channels (Twitter, Instagram)

iii. So They Knew What They Were Doing. How Did it all Turn Out?

Of course the great irony of Radiohead’s disappearing act is that this was ultimately a launchpad for what was to come; a primer for something new and a clean slate for the new album.

But unlike what was widely-reported, the band never actually 'deleted' their online presence, as all of the infrastructure (website, social media channels) remained firmly intact; to be soon replete with an all-new repository of content

And it’s easy to forget, too, that the band were also adding new channels during this time; gaining – for example - 555,000 Instagram followers from scratch in a matter of weeks. Which feels like a pretty big number, but is really one that sits comfortably and perhaps even modestly alongside historically high engagement on the band’s Facebook and Twitter; where the net engagement of more than a years’ deleted content was eclipsed in the first few days of May alone.

iv. What can we Learn From all This?

Being a fan of the band doesn’t necessitate an interest in the herd mentalities and hype machines that fuel our appetites for social media, but what we really have here is classic, clinical Radiohead: one of the highest-profile bands of our time releasing a new album in a manner that efficiently coalesces both acute social commentary and modern, musical distribution methods. 

So what can those in the world of media, marketing and communications take away from all this?

Firstly, there’s a message to be heard about not resting on one’s laurels and about constantly striving to break new ground. Most importantly though, Radiohead’s pseudo-vanishing act is a reminder for those that deal in or close to the marketing sphere that when a logo, product or piece of content is taken away - it will always be the enduring expectations of an audience which subsist as a true expression of what it really means to be a great ‘brand.’

Or band, in this case.