OK Go is not one to give into traditions. The four-piece band, which has been together now for 12 years, is a big ball of originality with no map of directions to guide them. At first mention, the band may not be recognizable- that is until someone discusses one of their viral sensations, which seem to make waves across You Tube every few months.  These choreographed master works of musical zaniness often contain one or more of the following: dancing, dancing and more dancing. The band’s “Here We Go Again” video, which feature the most amazing dance routine to ever include treadmills, was an internet sensations which has escalated to over 50 millions hits on Youtube. The video even landed them with their first Emmy award for “Best Short Form Music Video” in 2007, not to mention a shout out at the 2009 MTV Music Awards, where the video was nominated for “Best Music Video That Should Have Won A Moon Man”. As the band’s videos became more popular, OK Go ventured in to more detailed and elaborate creation works of video madness. Their latest video, for the track “White Knuckles” off of their new record Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky, received over a million hits within its first day on the web. In the eyes of their admirers, OK Go is more than a band. OK Go is an art form. After nearly a decade with major label Capitol Records, the band split ways in March of this year. The band offered kind words for the label on their website following the split: “OK Go has struck out on its own. The band has left the EMI family of corporations to form their own enterprise. Neither our lawyers nor their lawyers have any hard feelings and, in fact, the split has been remarkably friendly. There are many wonderful people at the company who have worked very hard on our behalf, and we’ve become very close with them over the years. Even if the band hadn’t signed a non-disparagement clause as part of the deal, we would have nothing bad to say. All joking aside, we’re very thankful, and we wish them all the best.” Tim Nordwind, the bassist and occasional vocalist for the band, spoke about the break from EMI to Buzzbin Magazine. “At some point it was going to happen. Our career has always been heading in a non-traditional music business kind of way,” Nordwind says. “I think traditional record labels have been making, for decades now, a profit off of massive recordings. We don’t think of our videos and anything else as promotional things but more like a work of art.” The split from Capitol also came after frustrations between the band and the label’s efforts to block the online distribution of their videos. The success of their videos started from the simple fact that Tim and Damien (the vocalist for the band) wanted to work on something together.  The friends grabbed a video camera and shot a dance video in their backyard. The rest is history. Life on a larger record label like Capitol restricted the band from using their creative juices and incorporating them into something successful. More importantly, it held them back from doing what they really want to do. “Being on a major label, you see they have a very narrow business of what a band should do. They believe that make a recording, being on the radio and MTV is how to succeed. If you don’t fit into those things then you are not always thought of as a critical success,” he explains. “We kind of thought that maybe record sales are not the greatest thing in the world to think of when determining if a band is a success.” The record business has changed. No longer can an artist rely on simply selling enough records to stay afloat. With the rise of new ways to distribute music online such as Soundcloud and even Youtube, musicians must discover new angles to get their point across. “There is like 1% of the musicians out there, like Beyonce and Madonna, that sell over a million records but that’s it. People just don’t buy records anymore,” Nordwind says. After the split from Capitol, OK Go was able to buy back the rights to their music and do what they please with it. The result was Paracadute Recordings, the band’s own record label they formed after the break from EMI. The label brought the band freedom to do what they wanted to do and when they wanted. “It certainly seemed like we wanted to be a success and be creative in whatever way we deemed fit. Trying to go through all that with somebody right now just seemed like a pain in the ass,” he says. “We knew what we wanted and how we wanted to do things. Because of the timing it was convenient.” During their tour last spring, fans were able to purchase flash drives with a live recording of the show they had just witnessed. The clever idea gave listeners a way to capture the moment and Nordwind says they were a big success. Quite a long way music has come since the, what seemed like at the time, never ending war between artists like Metallica and the then illegal download service Napster. Now a decade later, bands can rejoice in the simple fact listeners want to pay money for something they created. “It sort of feels like a new day is coming and a new metric for success is being developed,” Nordwind says. “As CDs and record labels begin to crumble there is a whole new world with new rules and we want to explore those avenues.” While the band hopes to expand the catalog of Paracadute Recordings at some time, the band for now is content with the direction they are heading in right now. “We had a record and it was ours now so we automatically have something to put out to the world. What we do with it from here I don’t know.” For now the band has at least one more release schedule for the label. In November, the band is set to release their last record in a new Extra Nice Edition with a second disc that including original demo recordings, live and alternative versions of tracks, and cover songs. OK Go was also able to make a splash in Hollywood last year (well sort of) in the form of the hit comedy film I Love You, Man.  Originally planned as a larger scene in the blockbuster, the band settled on simply a spot in the end credits. The film was a joy according to Nordwind, who jumped at the chance to be a film with the likes of Paul Rudd, Jason Segel and Thomas Lennon. For over a decade, OK Go has played more than a handful of talk shows, however, their recent invitation to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was one of their favorites for one reason in particular- the chance to meet Jane Lynch, the Emmy winning actress from the hit television show Glee. “It was great to hang out with Justin Timberlake, who we had met before, but meeting Jane Lynch was great. I love her,” Nordwind says with a giggle of schoolboy sincerity. Catch OK Go at the Beachland Ballroom on Wed., Oct. 13.