Music Videos New Frontier: Augmented Reality

Posted on 20. Oct, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci in Mobile Augmented Reality, Music Industry Trends

Music and Innovation hardly get together and, when they do, the War of the Roses is a more likely scenario than Star Trek. Not always though.

Augmented Reality might be a peaceful exception. A new wave of music videos is indeed emerging, with the promise to enable new creative ways for artists to interact with their fans.

The first experiment carries the signature of an artist known for his love story with new media, John Mayer. His new music video “Heartbreak Warfare,” from the upcoming Battle Studies album, makes use of augmented reality technologies and is now live on his website. Fans with a webcam can experience the new video by downloading an AR icon from the site and lining it up with their webcam or opening it on a mobile phone. Once the computer acknowledges the marker, the video will start playing with the user inside the background!

Check Mayer’s proud interview with Wired for some backstage intelligence.

Next up is an Australian band, Lost Valentinos, who is using AR in a very different way. Each band member was shot while performing the song on its own, then matched with a marker. Now it’s totally up to their fans to compose their own videoclip.