Artists turn to AR to get music out

The Future. AR filters on Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram are becoming the latest way to launch a new song into culture… so musicians and labels are making them a part of their larger social media marketing rollout. With 250 million Snapchat users engaging with AR every day and TikToks with AR lenses racking up 600 billion views, every song will soon need to be a feast for both the ears and the eyes.

See the sound
Musicians are banking that warping people’s reality can get a beat stuck in their heads.

• Insider reports that artists and labels are creating AR lenses as part of the marketing rollout for new songs.

• That’s because the track can become a “default option” for effect — when the filter is used or shared, so is the song.

• The effects are also easy to use, access, and understand than a dance or a meme.

But here’s the big question: are these AR lenses making a difference?

• A generative AI filter called “AI Manga” appeared in 132 million videos on TikTok, with the associate song, “たぶん” by Yoasobi, being used in 12 million videos.

• Canadian country singer Drew Gregory created a “What Farm Truck Are You” image generator for his song “Stuck.” It has been used in 42,000 TikToks, with his song in 16,000 of them.

Immersion on immersion
Musicians and labels hope to scale those AR lenses to full-on live-music experiences.

• Snap partnered with Live Nation last year to build out AR experiences for festivals such as Lollapalooza and EDC.

• Meta linked up with Coachella last year to build unique AR experiences for Instagram.

And both companies are either pushing users to add songs to their custom AR lenses or working directly with artists to create AR lenses around their songs. Soon, they will be almost inseparable.