Is this a cleverly crafted Radiohead album launch, a protest, or something else?
Radiohead's internet presence is disappearing. As Reddit users noted, their website slowly decreased in opacity until it went entirely blank. It appears that tweets and Facebook posts from their accounts have been steadily disappearing. Update (5/1, 2:00 p.m. ET): There are no longer any tweets or Facebook posts on the band's accounts. Their profile pictures and cover photos have gone completely blank, as well. This comes one day after fans of the band received mysterious flyers with the words "Sing a song of sixpence that goes/Burn the Witch/We know where you live." It's unclear what it is, but something seems to be happening. Update (5/1, 2:28 p.m. ET): Now, it appears Thom Yorke has deleted his tweets. Update (5/1, 3:18 p.m. ET): Their Google+ page has now gone blank.
In the age of Napster, the band has been forward-thinking, so it could be anything.
(Score: 2) by Sir Finkus on Tuesday May 03 2016, @03:39AM
We're in the age of Napster? Is Napster even running anymore?
Join our Folding@Home team! [stanford.edu]
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:43AM
Napster was shit. Worse than torrents. And torrents are fucking worthless.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @07:39AM
Well, no, but in the age of Napster, whenever that was, Radiohead did stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @08:11AM
-- www.napster.com
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @01:24PM
That shit site is not the same napster as the 1998 napster. Before they were shut down by the **AA, you could find some truly rare recordings that cannot be found or bought today. Yeah, they were crappy low bitrate mp3s and sometimes took an hour to download an album on dialup.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @03:41AM
I wouldn't have put much credence into this, but then I saw that Reddit users were reporting it, so I knew it must be reliable.
(Score: 2) by Absolutely.Geek on Tuesday May 03 2016, @03:43AM
If a Reddit post says "never trust a Reddit post" how are we supposed to react???
Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:12AM
You do:
1 - take out the perfect random number generator
2 - get a number
3 - if it is odd, don't believe what you read
4 - if it is even, do not believe what you read
5 - ???
6 - profit
Your random luck may vary.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday May 03 2016, @02:31PM
1 - take out the perfect random number generator
SEGFAULT
Well, that was over fast.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday May 03 2016, @06:22AM
As always: Trust what you agree with, distrust what you don't agree with. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @10:38AM
Trust *you* to come up with something so completely false!
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday May 03 2016, @12:06PM
Trust you to not know the meaning of the character sequence ";-)"
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday May 03 2016, @02:33PM
signature \/
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @01:56PM
If a Reddit post says "never trust a Reddit post" how are we supposed to react???
1. We tape a buttered sandwich to the back of a cat
2. We drop the cat
3. ???
4. PROFIT!
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:51PM
2) Captain Kirk says he is lying.
3) Computer asplode.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @03:54AM
The last step will be the entire band snuffing themselves out like a candle in real life because they've achieved nirvana.
(Score: 1) by Hardness on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:22AM
They said that ages ago when OK Computer was released...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @10:44AM
I expect the forthcoming album to have an entirely black album cover, no-one's ever done that before, they're groundbreaking yet again!
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Sunday May 08 2016, @01:45AM
I presume that an artist or band has released a black album cover. I also presume that a transparent album cover has been released. In the latter case, I would hope that the digital representation of a transparent album cover is a transparent .GIF or .PNG
1702845791×2
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @11:19AM
Hey, it worked for Kurt Cobain.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday May 03 2016, @02:36PM
What is the sound of a candle snuffing itself?
(And also how)
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:36PM
Ask Elton J.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Appalbarry on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:04AM
And it doesn't get posted on Google+, does it matter?
"Their Google+ page has now gone blank."
Hmm... do they still have a MySpace page? [myspace.com]
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:13AM
Hah, they probably forgot their friggen password to MySpace.
Nice to see I'm not the only one who's left Facebook. Maybe they'll prompt more people to do the same.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Gravis on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:20AM
who gives a shit about what a single band does? i mean, even if you like the band, it's still not news.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:40AM
Fuck them indeed. Firstly I hated them for using social media, secondly I hate them for self-censoring their social media, thirdly I'm boycotting these assholes for pulling this stunt. Radiohead are fucking dead to me.
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:22AM
Give them credit for a more interesting than shite marketing move (that's right bitches! I just called your pretentious art wanks glorified copy sales men), especially to the rubes that see them as the second coming of the Beatles.
Given their predictableness, see this as their "statement" towards the whole Hilary/Sanders drama in the US (although I admit Hail to the Thief was pretty good); the biggest question is why the fuck does this matter except to /mu/ or hacks like Fantano (love ya Anthony).
"Band Does Something on Internet. Details at Eleven."
Here's a more interesting story to discuss instead:
http://www.dothaneagle.com/news/crime_court/cottonwood-man-s-life-sentence-in-marijuana-case-won-t/article_cd7f0dda-0583-11e6-a970-8b11b99f4bc5.html [dothaneagle.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:57AM
Interesting sentiment. I personally fell on the 'who cares' side of this. Sounds like some sort of marketing thing to me. It worked on me when I was 10. Not so much when I am 45.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:59AM
FMD - it's significant to me - I think I just officially became old. I don't have any soshal meedya accounts, so for me 3 May 2016 was the day I was so far behind that I became cool again! I need to lookup my haircut before I become retro and trail off into fashion oblivion only to be revived in Simpsons parodies of Gen-X ..
Fark, I better do what my parents did, and tell my kids how cool I am when I pick them up from school .. lol .. so oooold .. What's Duran Duran doing at the mo?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @06:32AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF2X1o0FGA0 [youtube.com]
What's worse is even the reference is dated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @01:58PM
I thought it was interesting, and I barely know who Radiohead is. Variety is the spice of life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:36AM
AC wasn't always AC. Then one day, AC said it's not worth the effort to have a presence. AC didn't bother to erase anything either. Let it rot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @01:59PM
I AM SPARTAC... oh nevermind
(Score: 5, Funny) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday May 03 2016, @08:22AM
We finally have it, Anti-viral publicity.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @11:25AM
Have Radiohead hired the same reputation management firm that UC Davis hired?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday May 03 2016, @11:56AM
Radiohead's internet presence is disappearing
No one else has mentioned they're only getting rid of "push".
Its not like the're issuing DMCA notices to get rid of all fan discussion.
If anything the total aggregate amount of discussion has temporarily increased by going fan-only.
Probably a good thing for the internet as a whole. A group where some people like Ford is far superior to a group where Ford shitposts PR puff pieces endlessly to people suckered into liking their page.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by devlux on Tuesday May 03 2016, @12:49PM
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this MAY be a PR stunt in preparation for their new album and of course the press is lapping it up.
I dunno why I think that, it's just a hunch.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Gaaark on Tuesday May 03 2016, @02:52PM
I'll see your hunch and raise you a gut instinct!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @03:19PM
Maybe Elon is going to ship them to Mars and rename them Disaster Area.
(Score: 2) by devlux on Tuesday May 03 2016, @03:31PM
Ya know I've seen your sig a dozen times and been meaning to comment on it.
Was wondering if you were aware that beer really was the worlds first currency.
The oldest money we know of are little clay tokens that have been identified as representing beer.
Can't seem to find a link but I do remember reading that somewhere, possibly on a bar napkin though so YMMV.
Also looks like it might be coming back into style.
https://munchies.vice.com/en/articles/thousands-of-australians-now-use-beer-as-currency [vice.com]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:11PM
Hell, i'd be even poorer than i am now:
"Hey, i'll buy your cow with this beer.... ahhhhhshit... i drank the beer.
shit."
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @07:38PM
Always plan for "evaporation!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @08:14PM
Its a strategy, and seems to be working well for their fans. ( or rather against them... )