The sad news is that Twenty One Pilots’ supposedly never-ending “Level of Concern” video has come to an end, but after 162,000 fan submissions and 177 straight days of new content it has now been certified as the Guinness World Record™ holder as the longest music video in history.
Earlier this year, the band issued the original version of the “Level of Concern” video which consisted of singer Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun creating a video socially distanced and sending each other memory sticks back and forth to record their parts. The clip came out in the early days of the pandemic showcasing the new world of communication during a pandemic. But things didn’t stop there.
Twenty One Pilots, “Level of Concern” (Original Video Version)
The group partnered with directors Jason Nickel and Jason Zada to make “Level of Concern” an interactive clip where fans could continually add content. Over 162,000 users provided submissions and Imposium powered the updates so that every three minutes and 40 seconds a new music video could be streamed featuring the added content. This went on for 177 straight days with a total runtime of 4,264 hours, 10 minutes and 25 seconds, demolishing the previous world record of a 24-hour video from Pharrell Williams for the song “Happy.”
Literally the plug was pulled on the “never-ending” video on Dec. 16 as shown in the humorous tweet from the band below.
Speaking with Variety earlier this year about the “never-ending” video idea, Tyler Joseph stated, “We’ve always felt like any time we lose the chance to interact with the fans, we need to replace it with something. It used to be at the merch tables. In our shows now, even though we’re playing for more than five people, we still implement moments where we’re interacting with the fans and letting them respond, trying to make it more of a dialogue than just standing up there and executing the show. And so obviously when the pandemic hit and you take shows away from us, talk about a shock.”
He added, “We found ourselves thinking on our feet: What are we going to replace with this? It’s always fun to tell people how smart our fans are, and in the past where we’ve tried to be either cryptic or speak in code, or to tease something without giving something up, they surprise us how quickly they figure it out.”
The project began with a cryptic tease on their YouTube channel. That tease was paid off with a dedicated website where fans were engaged with an Alternate Reality Game in which fans were tasked with tracking down 20 codes to unlock a virtual USB drive that yielded more clues. Eventually it all led to page where fans could upload all their own content to add to the “Level of Concern” video.
As the year comes to an end, Twenty One Pilots have gone a more traditional route with their latest song, “Christmas Saves the Year.” Check out the holiday themed track below.
Twenty One Pilots, “Christmas Saves the Year”
