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 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 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 be repeated indefinitely), creating a music video that has never been done in this way 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.

We worked together with a young band to promote their new single leading up to their U.S. tour and did it in a way that showcased their true talent. We created a Facebook Live music video in which we used Facebook’s delay as an audio/visual loop pedal. To do that, we rewrote the original score to match Facebook’s delay and introduced the musical layers one by one. The live-performance had to be perfect in a single take, every mistake would be repeated indefinitely. The music video reached Reddit’s front-page going viral overnight, resulting in millions of views and sold-out shows.

We needed to target music lovers who are always on the lookout for new music and live performances. We also knew that, online, people love to watch and share movies where music and skill come together. A big part of this is proving you did something extremely complicated for real, while it’s much easier to just fake it. The Academic are super-tight live musicians — so we pursued a unique and innovative twist on their live performance. Because we wanted to prove this was really live, we started the live stream by Google-ing the current time.

The Academic is an up-and-coming band from Ireland who just signed their first record label deal. Downtown Records asked us to promote The Academic’s new single ‘Bear Claws’ leading up to their U.S. tour. We needed to target music lovers who are always on the lookout for new music and live performances.