So is this the future of music, all music videos will become interactive? It seems to be the new trend (Arcade Fire, QOTSA,…) and honestly I didn’t expect Bob Dylan to join the club, but this new interactive video for ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ is absolutely fantastic. It seems that the song was released during another era, certainly pre-internet and pre-music videos era, and it was about time the 1965 famous tune gets a video! This is how the press release describes it:
‘The Bob Dylan – “Like a Rolling Stone” Interactive Video showcases a patented technology platform, created by the digital media company Interlude, which allows viewers to play an active role in the story of the music video. The experience begins when users press play and have the ability to surf 16 different “TV channels” within the video in real-time. These channels are comprised of American TV formats in which, no matter what channel you are on, the hosts and actors are all lip-syncing the lyrics to “Like a Rolling Stone” as the song continues to play seamlessly.’
I found it extremely playful, you can surf the channels during the song and watch familiar shows (not that I ever watch the Price is Right!) and familiar faces (Drew Carey, Marc Maron) all singing in perfect synchronization the Dylan song, no matter what channel you turn on and when you change it! You will stumble on a movie ‘Love is Love’ (obviously), a cooking show, a shopping TV show, a tennis match, or a Propriety Brothers show, or watch a bit of a History Network, a Financial News channel, a Fashion channel,…there are 16 channels in total and, in short, it could sum up all the crap you get when surfing your cable TV on a lonely Sunday afternoon, except that these people are all under Dylan’s spell, lipsynching in perfect harmony.
President of Sony Music/Legacy Recordings, Adam Block, said in a statement: ‘We’re forever looking for compelling, creative ways to distinguish our artists and their music from the din. The Interlude treatment of ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ provides us with a unique, playful, highly engaging platform from which we can reach — and ideally attract — Dylan fans from across the spectrum’.
Yoni Bloch, founder and chief executive of digital media company Interlude, added: ‘As a musician myself, I can’t imagine a more thrilling project to be a part of than helping create the first video for ‘Like a Rolling Stone.’ The song has repeatedly been voted the No. 1 greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone, and is generally regarded as revolutionary, influencing both artists and popular music around the world. Like the song, we hope Interlude will inspire creative professionals everywhere to develop new and unique ways to tell stories through video.’
It sure is original but I wonder whether this is a metaphor to tell us that everything on TV sounds the same and that this delusion of channel abundance is just, well, a delusion, and that nothing beats a good old Dylan song? It could certainly works this way. Of course, you will eventually ends up on the Music Classics channel broadcasting young Dylan, also singing the song.
Go there to watch the video (http://video.bobdylan.com/desktop.html)