OK Go: A look at their innovative new music video

The new video for OK Go's 'Upside Down & Inside Out' features the kind of unusual visuals that have made the group 'kings of the viral music video.'

The band OK Go has released a new music video and it’s one that’s full of characteristically impressive visuals. 

The group say they filmed the video for the song “Upside Down & Inside Out” in zero gravity. 

“There are no wires or green screen,” says a statement at the beginning of the OK Go music video. 

Previous videos by the band that caught the public’s attention include the video for the song “Here It Goes Again,” which had the band perform various dance moves on treadmills. 

The band has made an art of headline-grabbing music videos. Guardian writer Tim Lewis writes that “OK Go are the undisputed kings of the viral music video.… OK Go did not set out to create a new way for a band to connect with their fans. Or to change the way that people relate to music through the Internet.… The band, for their part, stumbled on the realisation that the internet could be a forum for making art and not just money." 

Now the band has made a music video of theirs an event, drawing interest through unusual visuals and stunts. 

Time writer Victor Luckerson used OK Go as an example of how, “thanks to technological innovation, creativity and business savvy, the music video has become the most popular visual genre of the Web.” 

Online videos can also launch an unknown artist to popularity, as singers such as Justin Bieber and Lorde can attest.

The rise of the viral video has prompted a new take on an old question: Shouldn't the artists be paid for their work?

As royalties for artists from services like Spotify have become a big part of the discussion, YouTube is drawing complaints from some in the music industry for not paying artists copyright royalties – or at least, not consistently.

“YouTube is a much bigger problem [than streaming],” said Eric McKay, Warner/Chappell Music head of digital in Europe, to CNET. 

An unnamed YouTube spokesperson responded, “We've paid out more than a billion dollars to the music industry in the last few years. We've separately paid out more than a billion dollars to copyright owners who've monetized their music through Content ID.” Content ID keeps tabs on where a person’s music is popping up on YouTube. 

Artists and others do get money from advertising on YouTube.

Time will tell how the subscription-based YouTube Red does as well. "Paid models are always significantly better for songwriters than advertising models,” David Israelite, head of the National Music Publishers’ Association, told Billboard.

OK Go’s new video is on Facebook, with a video on the group’s YouTube channel telling viewers that the video is available there.