Sam Smith and Spotify Team Up with POWSTER To Launch Immersive Augmented Reality Experience for New Single

"Diamonds"

Innovative web-based AR activation allows music fans to bring the hit song to life through cutting edge technology

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- POWSTER—an award-winning interactive creative studio/production company for over 150 movie distributors—in collaboration with the world's largest music company Universal Music Group, music industry-leading label Capitol Records UK, and Grammy-Award winning artist Sam Smith, join forces for the launch of a web-based AR activation for Smith's new single "Diamonds," only available on Spotify. The project celebrates Smith's highly anticipated new album, "Love Goes," scheduled to be released on October 30, 2020.

POWSTER pioneered this groundbreaking concept, commissioned by Capitol Records UK and the Digital Marketing & Innovation department at Universal Music Group, with the help of Dimension Studios, a revolutionary volumetric film studio based in London, and 8th Wall, an award-winning computer vision software company that makes it possible to build interactive augmented reality based in a web browser. POWSTER used innovative volumetric capture and WebAR technology to bring the vision to life. In addition, the "Diamonds" experience is the first to use 8th Wall's image target augmented reality technology to trigger and track multiple volumetric video captures, creating a truly holographic experience.

Now with this innovation, fans can be fully immersed in the world of Sam Smith, viewing and interacting with a miniature augmented reality-version of the star dancing on their mobile device screen, replacing a traditional music video set with the viewer's immediate location, whether it be a work desk, kitchen table, or living room. 

POWSTER employed advanced technology and creative design to develop this activation, utilizing cutting-edge volumetric capture tech to film Sam in 3D, creating the first-ever three-dimensional AR artwork to be featured on Spotify. This breakthrough activation reflects the evolution of album artwork that previously only featured static images and looping videos, encouraging Sam Smith fans to play the song on Spotify and scan the canvas visual to unlock their own personal concert.

Once the mobile phone camera scans the Spotify image marker, AR technology initiates an interactive "Diamonds" experience with a miniature dancing Sam Smith hologram. Fans can also interact with the experience by pressing on the screen to release a shower of on-screen diamonds timed to the chorus of the song.