On August 30, 2005, OK Go released Oh No, the follow-up to the expensive, underperforming major-label debut that a lot of people expected to ruin their careers, and the muted reception it received didn’t seem to promise much hope. On August 30, 2006, it was the 188th best-selling album in the country. Right now it’s sitting at #72, which more than makes up for its early weak showing. It’s a good-to-decent album, with big enough hooks to sastisfy the pop listener, and a respectable T. Rex/Stones vibe, as well as a really bold amount of cowbell–it’s the kind of record that deserves to crack the Top 100. The obvious reason for its big move is their treadmill-centric performance on the VMAs last month. Dig deeper into the numbers, though, and you’ll find that it’s the #2 album on the digital chart, accounting for fully half of its sales last week, according to Coolfer. On the internet they’re competing against Bob Dylan, not the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Why? Because OK Go has broken with the major-label promotion cycle and all the recoupable expenses it incurs, taken charge of their own image control, and essentially turned Capitol Records into their production and distribution operation rather than their major label overlord. And they did it for free. First they made a no-budget ironic-but-still-kind-of-good-in-a-good way video and posted it on YouTube.
