One of the prevailing strategies of today’s new music business is improving fan interaction, particularly through the use of interactive technologies. And that’s resulted in a number of very unique implementations, the latest of which are music videos that put fans in control of the action.
It’s a blend of gaming and music video, a sort of “choose your own adventure” for music videos made possible by two new startup companies gaining traction in the space. The first, called Interlude, hails from Israel founded by musician Yoni Bloch. Another is the brainchild of producer Devo Springsteen’s new company Liquor & Ammo.
Both have technology that let artists create a music video that fans can alter the direction of while watching in real time, albeit somewhat differently. Liquor & Ammo’s solution is a bit choppy, essentially presenting clips of videos on YouTube, with links provided towards the end that simply start up a new YouTube video clip that extends the song in the direction chose. For an example, see it’s first implementation of the technology in this video from the rock/hip-ho duo Riot !n Paris.
Interlude, meanwhile, is a bit less choppy, moving seamlessly from scene to scene in a way that doesn’t require the launch of a new video clip, so there’s less break in the action. See a demo of the process in this video. It’s also got an upcoming video about to launch from singer songwriter Andy Grammer.
In both cases, users can save their video and share it with others on YouTube, Facebook, etc. Now music videos have let fans act as editor in the past, primarily by providing multiple alternative clips that could be piece together in a sort of online video editing room and played as a whole once assembled. These are different in that the choices are being made in real time and offer far more unique options that just a different camera angle or line of dialogue.
Mobile versions of either are likely not too far off either, extending the “time killer” value of the short music video, not to mention the engagement time needed to properly monetize online music video with display advertising. I can easily see branded-options coming soon, or perhaps the ability to download new “choices” after initial release for a small fee, or maybe even the ability for fans to add their own content to the mix.
Perhaps we’ll see more advancements once a major artist decides to use one of these technologies to make a more mainstream music video.
