Swedish DJ and producer Tim Bergling (better known as Avicii) sadly passed away on 20th April 2018 at the age of 28. A new album was nearing completion before he died and he had left the tracks along with notes, emails and texts outlining what his vision for it was. That posthumous album, TIM, was released on 7th June.
Dealing with a late artist’s unreleased work – especially so soon after their passing – is always going to be very complex and everyone involved has to step sensitively here. His family, however, has been fully involved in the project and are firmly of the belief that this album should be released rather than locked away in a vault and never heard.
On the weekend before TIM’s release (1st and 2nd June), Creative Labs at Universal Music Sweden created what they called the Avicii Cube in Herald Square in New York. There were similar cubes in London, Stockholm, Tokyo, São Paolo and Sydney.
Fans could step inside the cube and get to hear some of the music on the album before release by putting their hand on a glowing Avicii symbol on a large touchscreen, with the whole thing running on the idea of fan connectivity. Music would only play when at least one more fan was in one of the other cubes around the world and was touching the screen at the same time.
“Avicii connected us,” runs the messaging on the exterior of the cubes. “Around the world there are cubes just like this one. Walk inside and place your hand on the glowing Avicii symbol. When the symbols in two cubes are touched at the same time both cubes will activate.” It is, on a technological level, very clever; but really this was about handling an incredibly sensitive and emotional issue with respect – and that was undoubtedly achieved here. The theme of music connecting people worked perfectly and the whole thing, especially with Avicii’s family so closely involved, struck the right tone and was conducted with dignity.
There was also a partnership with Oculus to preview the album in VR on the day before release that was staggered to make it a global event.
“Beginning at 10:00 am PT on June 6, the album will play at the top of each hour for a 12- hour event where people around the world can come together and share the experience,” said Oculus on its blog.
“In my time working with Tim, we’d always discussed how important the VR takeover would be and the endless shifts in thinking we would all have, from music videos to live music and –most importantly – tweaking the album experience,” said Neil Jacobson, president of Geffen Records, in a statement. “The music album is in a challenged place right now, and VR can be a vehicle to bring that format into its next iteration. To a small degree, we are playing with that idea in this TIM virtual reality album listening experience.”
All of Avicii’s net proceeds from the album are going to the non-profit Tim Bergling Foundation. This will help it fund its work, most importantly in addressing mental health issues and helping to prevent suicide.
