House of Cards

Radiohead is once again doing crazy awesome things to traditional music mediums. After being cut free from their label, they are doing the unthinkable for a successful band – making their music free and accessible to fans. The freedom they have applied to In Rainbows in general is fantastic: allowing fans to choose the album price, the Nude remix contest. With few exceptions, the record industry has not embraced or even really recognized the sea change brought on by digital media – not only music “piracy” but also the proliferation of fan remixes. Radiohead, Beck, NiN and a few others are catching on – and I’m glad to see it.

Now Radiohead made a music video for House of Cards using 3D imaging technology (no cameras or lighting) and provided the visualization data for users to play with and make their own music videos.

Here is the original video:

Check out the youtube group for fan-made videos.

Oh and here’s the data plus a “making-of” video.

If you haven’t read it already, you should also check out this interview in Wired of Thom Yorke by David Byrne (Talking Heads interview Radiohead – hee!). I also found Byrne’s accompanying opinion piece on the future of the recording industry really interesting.