A challenge facing all estates and catalogue departments when unearthing a “lost” recording is how that is visually presented to the world. A moody compilation clip assembled from archive footage – where everything is shot in black and white, it slips into slow-motion and occasionally profound quotes are flashed up – is the default setting, but it is now such a hackneyed trope as to be neither use nor ornament. New technology, however, can allow for something different, something better.
That does not have to involve using AI/deep-fake technology to raise a deceased star from their grave and grimly sing along to the track. In fact, it’s best if this whole route is never pursued.
Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park, died in 2017 and now the remaining band members are building up to the 20th anniversary of their second album, Meteora, which originally came out in March 2003.
A previously unheard song from the sessions for that album, the appositely titled ‘Lost’, has been released and the track comes with a video that was made in collaboration with AI startup Kaiber.
The video was created by inputting specific terms and phrases and having AI generate visual sequences from those triggers. It sits roughly within the worlds of anime and Manga, blending animation of Bennington (and other band members) with fantasy sequences.
There is a tie-in 20th anniversary boxset of the album that includes demos, B-sides and live footage, but the remaining band members insist they will not be working on any new music or planning live shows.
In any marketing involving a deceased musician, it must all be about a lightness of touch, avoiding the bombastic or crass. The new video is in some ways a throwback to the original video for ‘Breaking The Habit’ from the Meteora album, giving a sense of a band paying tribute to a lost member and placing it within the creative context of the time.
Such marketing is a high wire act, but this is a good example of AI being used in a subtle way rather than an overpowering – and needlessly blundering – way.
