Why Did Radiohead Disappear from the Internet?
The band’s entire Web presence has vanished—right before its new album is supposed to drop.
Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty
“I want you to notice when I’m not around.”
That’s a lyric from Radiohead's song “Creep,” but it also may be its marketing strategy.
All web pages officially related to the band—its website, Facebook page, Twitter, Google+, etc.—went blank on Sunday, leaving some fans wondering if this is Radiohead’s way of promoting a new album.
And that’s not unlikely—Radiohead’s manager said last month they’ll be releasing an album in June.
If the band is in fact promoting—by not promoting—the new release, that might explain the strange Radiohead flyers some British fans got in the mail last week, reading, “Sing the song of sixpence that goes ‘Burn the witch.’” Some think that may be the new album’s title.
Radiohead has a history of promoting itself in peculiar, non-digital ways. In 2011, just before the release of The King of Limbs, the band’s singer, Thom Yorke, personally handed out Radiohead-themed newspapers at record stores.
Online, meanwhile, the band is not around. We noticed.