The Innovators
Max Chafkin | Inc. magazine

The Future of Music Videos

 

So maybe it's the end of summer, and I'm feeling nostalgic, but I found myself moved by this interactive music video from the band Arcade Fire. 

I recommend watching yourself (not sure watching is the right word), but the video begins by asking for the address of the house where you grew up and then incorporates pictures from Google Maps. The result is a short, simple and lovely little film that feels weirdly personal.

It was made by Radical Media and Google, with help from the company 30 Under 30 company Crowdflower, which handles a user-generated twist at the end of the song.

It is very cool, and, I think, augurs where the future of music videos--and television--is headed: A combination of traditional filmmaking with entrepreneurial cleverness. Things may speed up when the Apple iTV is out, which could happen as early as tomorrow.

Update: The Crowdflower guys have a blog post explaining what they're doing.

Senior contributing writer Max Chafkin has profiled companies such as Yelp, Zappos, Twitter, Threadless, and Tesla for the magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. @chafkin