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Radiohead's First Concert Film in 15 Years is Fan-made and Free

09.4.10 @ 5:16PM Tags : , , , , , ,
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The best live show I’ve ever seen was Radiohead performing at All Points West just outside NYC here in 2008 (though this recent Flaming Lips show was pretty incredible too). Radiohead’s 25-song, two-encore set sounded amazing, the weather was great, and, well… it was Radiohead. I bring this up because the band, who famously self-released In Rainbows with a “pay what you want” model to great success, has just lent their music to a crowdsourced Czech concert film made up of 50 different amateur camera angles. Radiohead has much greater ownership of their music than most bands (they left their former label EMI because they wanted rights to the master recordings), and with ownership comes the ability to do something like this — just because they want to. In fact, this fan-filmed show — which has the same backdrop and a similar setlist to the show I witnessed — is their first concert film since 1995. And not only is it free, but the highest quality version is available not through iTunes or Amazon, but BitTorrent.

While the concert film is similar in its crowdsourced nature to the Beastie Boys’ Awesome: I Fuckin’ Shot That!, Radiohead’s release is worth noting because the fans took it upon themselves to shoot it — and then Radiohead stepped in and donated the sound board masters (without which the film would be unwatchable). Because this is “strictly not for sale – by the fans, for the fans,” you can find it in its entirety on YouTube (I’ve embedded some songs below), or you can head to the downloads page where you can get it in HD quality from BitTorrent, MegaUpload, and other distribution methods that one normally associates with illegal content.

When it comes down to it, an act like this can gain one more fans and generate more good will than a thousand publicists. And you can only do it if you retain ownership over your creations – which I’ve harped on in the past.

15 Step

Nude

True Love Waits / Everything in its Right Place

Link: Radiohead Live in Praha

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COMMENT POLICY

We’re all here for the same reason: to better ourselves as writers, directors, cinematographers, producers, photographers... whatever our creative pursuit. Criticism is valuable as long as it is constructive, but personal attacks are grounds for deletion; you don't have to agree with us to learn something. We’re all here to help each other, so thank you for adding to the conversation!

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  • Koo on 09.5.10 @ 12:23PM

    Why is no one commenting on the fact that this is awesome?!?

    Reply
  • nic on 09.16.10 @ 10:07PM

    this is awesome but Beastie Boys did this a few years ago also.
    I think it was called AWESOME I SHOT THAT

    Reply
  • Scott on 11.2.10 @ 7:37PM

    While cool, NIN was all over the “pay whatever you want thing” in a totally better way (that is, offering content at higher bitrates than R-Head would, as well as not withholding any music for the ‘real’ physical release) before Reznor finally offered the last Nails album completely free, no strings attached.

    I’m actually surprised that nothing is mentioned on this site (that I can find) about their “This One Is On Us” project where Reznor allowed full camera access to their Lights In The Sky shows. One group who recorded three entire shows in HD contacted him about it, then Reznor released the soundboard audio to the fans, and the fans themselves made a professional grade DVD & Blu-Ray using that footage & audio. Reznor’s response? “NIN fans kick ass.” Footage of it is on YouTube too before the physical product was released and even that looks fantastic.

    Anyway, I’m new here and this is a near three month old post so I don’t know if it will get any more attention. Love this blog though. Just what I’m looking for right now, totally want to segue into directing my own work.

    Reply
    • Koo on 11.2.10 @ 10:00PM

      NIN and Trent Reznor are definitely at the forefront of artist-centric distribution and crowdsourcing — most recently, I bought the Social Network soundtrack direct from Nullco. Thanks for the comment, Scott.

      Reply

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From http://nofilmschool.com/2010/09/radioheads-first-concert-film-in-15-years-is-fan-made-and-free/comment-page-1/ CC 2012 by Koo. Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States