BEN ROBINSON

When there are so many more channels of communication it can be easy to be overawed by the variety of platforms and their incumbent cacophonies. Sometimes it makes you want to say nothing at all.

Which appears to be the latest trend for high profile musicians releasing new music.

In the last few weeks we have seen big releases from Beyonce and Radiohead, appearing with minimal fanfare but creating huge hype.

Beyonce launched her new ‘visual’ album as a TV special, taking fans by surprise

Radiohead actually set the ball rolling by saying less than nothing – they did their best to wipe their official presence off the internet, deleting social media feeds and removing websites. The remaining void immediately got people excited. People were talking because the band suddenly weren’t.

Radio silence preceded Radiohead‘s first album in 5 years

For a band such as Radiohead, any new release is sure to garner instant publicity and reach across the twittersphere thanks to their consistent high quality and popular appeal, but also their approach to experimenting with music and how they make it available (such as their innovative ‘pay what you want’ approach to releasing 2007’s In Rainbows).

In this case, they decided the best way to hype a new release wasn’t a sustained teaser campaign – adding to the noise – but instead clearing a space so that people would not just hear what they had to say, but stop what they were doing and listen to it.

The first tweet back – Radiohead returned to the internet with clips of their new video, shortly before the full album was launched

This is the great challenge all bands and brands face in a noisy marketplace. It’s all very well making yourself heard above other raising voices, the real question is: how do you make people listen?