Paste pitch

magazine is a monthly publication with the tagline, "signs of life in music, film and culture." Their focus is primarily on music, appealing to young adults "who still enjoy discovering new music, prize substance and song craft over fads and manufactured attitude, and appreciate quality music across a broad stylistic spectrum."

The magazine is very innovative and their Web site is very interactive. Each issue includes a sampler CD with about 20 songs by new and established artists, and their Web site includes podcasts and blogs as well as a limited-time "pay what you want" subscription offer.

If I were able to publish on Paste's Web site, I would do a story on the British band, Radiohead. With the absence of a record deal sparking the unusual release of their latest LP, In Rainbows, solely on their Web site, and with fans able to name their own price for the album, Radiohead has possibly broken new ground for music distribution. The lack of marketing and hype that record companies usually put into the release of an album shortened fans' anticipation. Fans only had to wait 10 days from the news of the album's existence to its actual release.

My story would focus on an interview with Radiohead's front-man, Thom Yorke, where he talks about this unusual way to release a record and whether or not their intention was to shake the ground beneath the record industry's feet. And finally, we would discuss the beautiful music hidden behind the unusual method . . .

Sailing to the moon: Radiohead breaks down barriers with the release of In Rainbows

British band, Radiohead, has innovated rock music continually over the past 15 years; now they begin to innovate the way we purchase rock music. Thom Yorke sits down to tell us how that wasn't really his intention and whether or not Radiohead's music has come full-circle.

For the web presentation, I would include these multimedia:
- audio, or even video of the interview with Mr. Yorke
- a track list for In Rainbows, with each track linking to an audio clip of the music
- statistics of album sales for In Rainbows (a simple chart or graph)
- links to performances of songs from the album (From the Basement, Radiohead.tv, etc.)



- fans' stories of receiving the album (waiting up all night to get the email allowing the album's download, etc.)
- images of artwork to be included in the album's discbx
- a time line of Radiohead's career with images of each album cover and statistics on each album's sales performance

It's the 21st century, it's the 21st century . . .