I was doing some research this morning to try to figure out how exactly videos and commercials go viral, and came across an interesting story about band, Ok Go—the group responsible for the 2006 viral hit, “Here we go again” where the band members have a choreographed dance routine aboard a row of treadmills.
But this latest story is about the bands latest release, “This Too Shall Pass”. The band’s label EMI put a restriction on embedding the video for this single so that it could only be viewed through specific sites such as YouTube to maximize the revenue brought in by banner ads. It is said that EMI pulled the plug on a “sharable” video because it only gets paid when you watch the video on the designated video-sharing site, not when you view it on your friend’s blog.
The band argues in a New York Times op ed piece that “Viral content doesn’t spread just from primary sources like YouTube or Flickr. Blogs, Web sites and video aggregators serve as cultural curators, daily collecting the items that will interest their audiences the most. By ignoring the power of these tastemakers, our record company is cutting off its nose to spite its face.”
So what does OK Go do to get their video heard? They created an entirely new video for their new song, this time sponsored by insurance company State Farm. Seems like an unlikely couple, but the State Farm placement is subtle, tasteful, and most important of all, creative. At the very beginning of the video, a band member tips off a row of dominoes, with a State Farm logo-ed toy truck. The truck sets off the video’s 3-minute long “Rube Goldberg machine”. And at the end of the video State Farm receives a thank you message stating that the video was made possible by State Farm.
The video was released on March 1 and was streamed 6 million times within the first six days. You can of course find this new video on YouTube (along with the original), but thanks to State Farm, you can see it all over the web, including my blog, New Media by Lisa!
On April 1, OK GO parted ways with record label EMI to start its own company and label called Paracadute. The band shouldn’t have any more troubles doing things their own way anymore! I find it refreshing that the band doesn’t care how much money it makes by placing its video on the internet, but just want to build their fan base–which will of course pay them back in other ways like concert tickets and record sales. Well done, guys!
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I love this video, as well as the teadmill video that Ok Go produced. I posted a link to this video on my boyfriend’s Facebook page, and I have noticed that it is no longer active. I think that it is smart for company’s and record labels to activate this type of action, as more and more people are stealing music, and listening for free. Now they can receive some pay out by only permitting play on certain sites.
Wow, this video is amazing. I wonder why State Farm was chosen as sponsor for the video, as you said the combination seems a little odd. I was glad to see that State Farm was not plastered all over the video. The company could have easily requested to be included several times but they did not. The simple acknowledgement at the beginning and end was enough and made the video about the group not the sponsorship.
Danielle