AR Music is a sticky idea, as Minibeats is starting to show.
Minibeats has linked up with Rhino Records to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the classic “Green Onions” by Booker T. & The M.G.’s. The collaboration enables anyone to easily remix this iconic song as an interactive Snapchat lens.
An emergent disruptor in the social media space, Minibeats is a new company introducing “AR Music” to the world – integrating fun, interactive camera lenses with a suite of intuitive musical tools to enable content creation like never before. Just last month, Minibeats launched a set of Snapchat lenses featuring different artists, allowing fans to remix their songs in an entirely new way with AR instruments (more on this below).
AI & Tech – Promoting Accessibility and Innovation
“Green Onions” is being reimagined with these three new interactive lenses: all with a stunningly simple UI. Music listeners will be turned into a green onion, and as they dance, they’ll be able to hear the organ playing of Booker T. Jones himself. Likewise, users can transform into a spinning vinyl record and use their mouths to play the music.
There are three “Green Onions” Snapchat lenses: a green onion, a simple color pulse, and a spinning vinyl record.
This is made possible by using AI Stem separation. Originally recorded decades ago in a converted movie theater to analog tape, finding stems – the individual audio files that make a full mix – would normally be impossible for a song this old. The Minibeats team partnered with a new music technology company called Audioshake to solve that problem. As users interact with these animated lenses, they can make their own customized version of the song using their favorite parts – unlocking unlimited possibilities for track versions.
The legacy of “Green Onions” and breaking boundaries
Ranked no. 181 in Rolling Stone’s original list of the top 500 greatest songs, the instantly recognizable “Green Onions” arrived over sixty years ago when Booker T. & The M.G.’s transformed an impromptu studio jam into one of the most popular instrumentals ever recorded. In celebration of the anniversary, Rhino recently digitally released a newly remastered version of the Green Onions album on CD and green vinyl. Listen Here.
The Future: Explosive Potential of Interactive AR lenses
The “Green Onions” lens joins a line of artist lenses that Minibeats has launched over the first part of 2023, demonstrating enormous versatility and creative possibilities for audiences. For example, with LP Giobbi, users can build a version of her new single, “Body Breathe,” with interactive AR objects. Likewise, San Holo’s Minibeats lens uses elements of his album artwork and lets users remix his song by bobbing their heads in different directions.
These artist-focused lenses have taken off on Snapchat. Collectively, they have received over 10M plays in the first two weeks alone, demonstrating Minibeats’ explosive potential. Over 80,000 users have shared the Snaps they’ve created. One of the primary goals of this launch was to build more exposure for the artists themselves, and that hypothesis is proving true as these artists see real hits on their social and music pages. LP Giobbi’s lens had a 10% click-through rate, leading to thousands of additional streams on the new single. Her team found this most valuable: the ability of a digital experience to engage a new audience, especially the young, music-hungry demographic Snapchat is known for.
San Holo remixes his own song with his Minibeats Lens.
Minibeats has given “Green Onions” a new life for the next generation of music listeners, and is already looking to expand its creator tools to be readily part of any social media experience. With AR music, Minibeats may be driving the next big revolution in social media.
About Minibeats
Minibeats is a spinoff brand of Artiphon – the Nashville-based tech startup known for its award-winning Orba and INSTRUMENT 1 smart musical instruments. Backed by Warner Music Group and other industry leaders, the Minibeats team previously released Scan Band on Snapchat, which became the #1 Lens at the Snap Partner Summit, as well as Orbacam for iOS, the first app that lets you create music directly in videos. Minibeats is currently seeking additional brand, artists, and industry collaborators for future lenses and AR Music apps. Drop us a line at press@minibeats.app.