In between his hectic schedule of making beautiful women swoon with his trademark dulcet tones, and making sure that his eyes are never more than 50-percent open, John Mayer, amazingly, has found time to revolutionize online music videos.
His latest single, "Heartbreak Warfare," from the album 'Battle Studies,' introduces what's being called the world's first "augmented reality music video," allowing fans to have cameos in the video as themselves. The true Mayer Maniac can log on to the singer-songwriter's Web site, turn on her webcam, and hold up a specific icon in front of the camera to activate the video. If the icon is aligned correctly, the video will play with the (probably shrieking) fan as an extra in the background. Getting into Mayer's virtual universe is easy; all you need is a webcam and the special augmented reality marker, which is downloadable from the site. Mashable reports that there are still a few kinks in the system, and that it can be tricky to align the marker exactly as needed. But then again, it's a pretty complex operation, as this Wired interview with Mayer (video also after the break) clearly demonstrates.
Whether or not you place John Mayer and his music closer to the Bubblegum or Blues end of the music spectrum, this is, undeniably, a pretty cool concept. We can't wait to see where some other artists go from here, and how viciously they riff on this new, intensely personal trope of fan interaction that Mayer has pioneered. And hopefully someday, they'll be able to implement this technology in throwback videos. Because we would love nothing more than to see ourselves in the middle of this
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