We created a Facebook Live music video in which we used Facebook’s delay as an audio/visual loop pedal.

In an era of bedroom rockers, The Academic are super-tight live musicians — so we pursued a unique twist on their live performance. We discovered that when you stream on Facebook Live, it takes some time before the video pops up on your page — and that you can create an infinite loop-effect by filming your own Facebook page during that live stream. After an intense R&D phase, we successfully turned Facebook Live’s delay into an audio and visual loop sampler precise enough to loop the song. We rearranged every instrument on the single to fit the length of Facebook’s delay and introduced all the different layers one by one. The whole recording was live and had to be performed spotlessly in a single take — every mistake would be repeated indefinitely.

We created a Facebook Live music video in which we used Facebook’s delay as an audio/visual loop pedal. We discovered that when you stream on Facebook Live, it actually takes some time before the video pops up on your page. And that you can create an infinite loop effect by filming your own Facebook page during that live stream. After an intense R&D phase, we successfully turned Facebook Live’s delay into an audio/visual looper precise enough to loop the song. We rearranged every instrument on the single to fit the length of Facebook’s delay and introduced all the layers one by one. To make every musical layer stand out visually, we lit the stage in a different color every loop. The whole recording was live and had to be performed spotlessly in a single take (every mistake would repeat indefinitely), creating a music video that has never been done before.

People loved it so much it ended up on the front-page of Reddit — the one spot money can’t buy. From there, it went viral overnight and was picked up by many outlets. From live TV to renowned (music) blogs — resulting in millions of views from all around the world, an increase of 300% weekly Spotify streams, month-to-month single sales went up by 500%, and a huge increase in their social following and tickets sold for their U.S. tour — all without any

paid media.