Anti Marketing: The Next Day
At the stroke of midnight on 8 January 2013 — David Bowie’s 66th birthday — his YouTube channel broadcast the video for a new single, Where Are We Now?, and announced the release of new album, The Next Day. As his first new material since 2003’s Reality, it shocked music fans and made headlines the world over. Nobody knew how David Bowie had kept a forthcoming album secret. Even before the recording of The Next Day had begun, journalists were speculating that David Bowie had retired from music due to rumour of his health issues.
After the album’s release, his longtime producer (and personal friend) Tony Visconti tweeted he was “so relieved to talk about the new DB album after two years of silence” — this in an age of gossip websites, smartphones, and social media. Complete secrecy was a precondition from the beginning of this album project: early on, David, Tony, and session musicians were obliged to move studios after the studio owners allegedly leaked information about who was working there — David eventually asked employees of The Magic Shop and Human Worldwide studios, where the album was recorded, to sign NDAs. This was further supported by quite an extremely strict entry policy — not even his own roadie was allowed in the studio.
Part of the reason David Bowie was able to keep his comeback a secret until the last minute is down to the remarkably low-key nature…
