“Collapse Into Now” Is Going To Be REM’s Fifteenth Album Of Original Compositions

When people talk about Internet artists, they often fail to see beyond the likes of Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber – artists whose careers have been clearly shaped and/or established through sites like YouTube and Facebook. To them, a band like REM hardly factors into the equation. But that is about to change…

The fathers of alt rock are to release a new album (“Collapse Into Now”) in one month’s time. And in order to start putting it on the map, they have come with quite an interesting scheme.

Basically, fans can remix the track “It Happened Today” and upload their own work to the Internet for others to listen. The remixing itself is done using Garageband (the music mixing software that all new Macs come with), and the files are uploaded to SoundCloud under a Creative Commons license.

Results range from the tuneful to the bizarre.

The one question, now, is how far can this be taken? Is there coming a day in which bands will let fans remix whole albums and have them shared? You can let us know which side you are on by leaving a comment below…