The Cool Commentator

Direct your own music video with Andy Grammer! Well that’s what a combination of Interlude, VEVO and the stars record lable S-Curve have set out to achieve with the release of his new video for “Keep your head up”. New interactive technology has been used to allow the viewer to choose what happens next in the video, 10 second slots are prompted throughout so you choose the next scene in real time.

A ridiculously engaging music video but a very clever one at that! Not only will the video get people talking but replaying it over again to suss out the possible scenarios the artist could take, creating double the hits the song would have originally generated in the first place.The most popular storyline will determine the official video launch on November 15th 2010 to create yet more hits! Clever!

All we need now is for VEVO to let us British in on the fun as its only the Americans that can preview the video at the moment, however I’m sure this is a taste of how musician will be engaging with us in the not so far future.

Danielle Curry for The Cool Commentator.

Click this image, make sure you open in Chrome and go experiment with what we think is quite an incredible interactive experience to support Arcade Fires new song. We won’t say anymore than this so we don’t spoil it for you. Enjoy!

Wow. This is pretty amazing, click any of the videos to start playing in any order, but when they’re playing altogether it’s just wow. 

The Cool Commentator.

Get a song written to your own life with One Hello World. This is a fantastic little project - you ring a number, leave a message and someone writes a personalised song for your message. Go and have a listen to some of the messages and songs by clicking the image.

The idea behind the Johnny Cash project is -  ”Through this interactive website, participants may draw their own portrait of Johnny Cash to be integrated into a collective whole. As people all over the world contribute, the project will continue to evolve and grow, one frame at a time.”

I think it’s brilliant! I love Johnny Cash, he was such a ‘laid bare’ performer. His personal life often overspilled into his performances and lyrics. His song ‘Hurt’ being my favourite. If you can draw, or photoshop you should do your own frame for this collective. Main reason being that just one of these frames alone is a thing of beauty but run together with the track they become something jaw dropping. I must have watched it over and over about 17 times!

Emma Townley for The Cool Commentator.

Lady GaGa is unstoppable at the moment and it would seem the artist herself is the mastermind and driving influence behind her social media and marketing strategies. She is taking over the world one song at a time and seems to be loving every minute of it. Shes one tough talented cookie with a head on her shoulders and I think brands could learn a lot from her…Nestle best tune in quickly!

Here is what PSFK was saying…

Much is being said these days about Lady Gaga and her team’s marketing genius, as evidenced by her rapid ascend to the top of the charts, her incessantly played tunes, and her ability to license her brand (and videos) out. Whether this fame is sustainable or limited to a moment in time is yet to be determined. Regardless of your opinion of her music and sense of artistry, there is something to be learned from her marketing prowess, and specifically from her use of social media to truly engage with her audience:

• Take matters (and your brand) into your own hands – or at least know how to execute yourself before directing someone else on how to do it for you: According toAdAge, all parties who work with Lady Gaga on her label, management and marketing teams cite Gaga herself as the ultimate brains behind many of her creative and social-media ideas and tactics. She regularly Tweets to her audience from backstage.
• Utilize a phased approach in your content distribution strategy (exclusivity works):  “Bad Romance” debuted last November on LadyGaga.com before MTV or any other outlet – resulting in a Universal Music server crash, a week-long Twitter trending topic and a cumulative 136 million (and counting) views on YouTube to date, more than any other past viral music video. (OK Go’s “This Too Shall Pass”, which premiered this past Tuesday, currently counts 3.5 million views).
• Accept and embrace that your brand – and its success – is dependent upon your customers taking a stake in it:  As noted by ChurchofCustomer, while some artists  protect their image by prohibiting recording devices during performances, Gaga instead bars professional photographers from capturing her performances, including one in late 2009 in Las Vegas.  She prefers to allow fans to record and distribute videos of her live performances on YouTube.

If nothing but a social-cultural commentary or example of how quickly the marketing machine can be figured out, Lada Gaga is also a reminder that it can pay dividends to be fearless in how a brand directly engages with and grows to understand its customers – and learns from both the hits and misses.