We’ve seen a lot of inventive music videos this past year — interactive videos, crowdsourced videos, HTML5-based videos — but we hadn’t seen a 360-degree video, until now. Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am just launched his digital media company, will.i.apps, and to kick off the app-travaganza he’s out with a Peas-branded app featuring a pretty immersive vid.
The app — titled BEP360 — is the first release from will.i.apps, a company Will.i.am founded with Edo Segal of Futurity Ventures. Like pre-existing services like Mobile Roadie, will.i.apps will help artists create mobile apps to best showcase their music and brand.
That’s the aim of BEP360 — to bring the fan into the Black Eyed Peas’s world. The app features a video for the band’s song “The Time (Dirty Bit)” the first single from new album, The Beginning, which allows the user to explore the world of the video (basically a party) by moving his or her phone around. IE, If you point your phone at the ceiling, you’ll see the ceiling of the party. It’s like Google Earth, with more scantily clad chicks.
The app also includes an augmented reality view, which brings the latest album cover to life; a photo session that lets you take pictures of the band members in a virtual, 360-degree “photo shoot”; a virtual map that displays comments and pictures posted by other fans (you can take snaps with the virtual band members in the AR view and share them out); the Peas’s Twitter feed; and a puzzle game.
Overall, the video is far and away the coolest aspect of the app, but, frankly, I wouldn’t shell out the $2.99 to download it if you’re not a pretty big Black Eyed Peas fan.
We’re far more interested to see what other apps will.i.apps creates for artists, seeing as how it’s a company founded by a working musician.
BEP360 is currently available for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad [iTunes link].
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