Are you ready to take the whole selfie thing to the next level? How would you like to be in a Dustin Lynch or a Justin Timberlake video?
Thanks to a new app for IOS called VideoBomb, you can actually videotape yourself singing or dancing along to your favorite video, and of course, you can then share it with the world via your favorite social-media platform.
Created by Matt Edde, chief compliance officer, and Chad Marcum, chief executive officer, VideoBomb was launched about seven months ago and has been embraced by not only fans but stars themselves who have been bombing the videos of other stars.
"Luke Bryan did one a few weeks ago where he VideoBombed his buddy Blake Shelton," Marcum says. "We didn't expect to see people use it that way, to cross-promote a friend."
Edde says the artists seemed to have embraced it because, "it helps strengthen that artist/fan relationship."
To help promote the app, Marcum reached out to his fellow Tullahoman and former high school golf nemesis Dustin Lynch ("He used to whip me in golf pretty regularly"), and they have come up with a contest that gives fans a chance to win two VIP tickets to an upcoming concert and a meet-and-greet with the star.
To enter, fans need to download the VideoBomb app from iTunes and then select Lynch's "Good Girl " video from the Music Video tab. Then insert your best video bomb in the video. You can scroll along the bottom of the screen to find the place where you want you video to start and then scrub it to edit it if needed.
You can even insert several VideoBombs into one video. To get an idea of what VideoBomb is all about, visit www.youtube.com/channel/UC-BCW3GPmoBMd3ImazZR_IQ/videos. There, you'll find several examples of what people are doing with VideoBomb, including a video of Edde and Marcum during their visit to the "Today" show with Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb.
Once completed, publish it in the app with the hashtag #goodgirlvideobomb. The videos are also saved in your camera roll and can then be shared.
The contest was launched last Wednesday during Lynch's Riverbend appearance.
"Tullahoma and Chattanooga are practically neighbors, so we wanted to do something special for all of Dustin's fans in Chattanooga and the folks who drive in for the Riverbend Festival," says Marcum. "Our communities have a lot in common - including gigabit internet - which is a big reason I became an app developer. We feel right at home in Chattanooga, and we are thrilled to launch this contest the day that Dustin is performing at Riverbend." The contest will run for a month.
The app is free to download through the iTunes store, and users can access 30-second videos to edit at no charge. Access to a full video costs $1.99.
Marcum and Eppe say they developed the app over two and a half years with the help of Project Music, which helps music-driven start-ups, in the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Marcus says getting the licensing rights to the videos was the biggest hurdle, but they now have full blanket licenses with Sony, which gives them access to 74,000 videos.
"We keep about 200 in the app at any given time and change them around," Marcus says.
"Whatever is hot right now," Edde adds.
Choices currently include Christina Aguilera, DJ Khalid, Hunter Hayes and Meghan Trainor. You can also choose from a collection of movie clips to VideoBomb. Selections include clips from "Ace Ventura," "Austin Powers in Goldmember" and "Fifty Shades of Grey."
The next goal is to partner with businesses such as soft-drink or fast-food companies to allow people to VideoBomb their ads.
"We hope people will get creative and have fun with it," Marcum says.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.