Yanira D. Kivi 
LEGO today announced the launch of a new product called LEGO VIDIYO with Universal Music Group. This product – which includes new figures, music from UMG, augmented reality, a mobile app and new tiles called BeatBits – lets kids create their own music videos and share them with the VIDIYO community (heavily moderated) . It’s safe to say that VIDIYO is unlike anything LEGO has released in the past, and it’s launching later this year.
At the heart of LEGO VIDIYO is an augmented reality mobile app that allows these new minifigures to star in music videos. The process of creating a music video actually seems somewhat complicated, and it starts with kids choosing a song they want from the LEGO VIDIYO app. This is where Universal Music Group’s involvement comes in, as users can select songs from the company’s catalog. We don’t have the exact number of songs that will be available through the app, but LEGO’s announcement today says the app will cover a “wide variety of artists”.
Once the song is selected, users will choose the figurine they want to play in the video and place it on a small physical stage where they will be flanked by a selection of BeatBits also chosen by the user. BeatBits are 2×2 square LEGO tiles that serve a variety of digital effects when digitized using the app. LEGO says the effects unlocked by these BeatBits range from “black and white bling effects, to showers of confetti and even X-ray vision.” Beyond visual effects, BeatBits can also be used to produce sound effects.
After choosing the BeatBits and the figure, it seems like it’s just a matter of choosing an environment, scanning it with the app, and then starting recording. While recording the music video, kids can activate BeatBits or trigger different dance moves for their figures. By default, music videos are 60 seconds long, but LEGO says they can be cut down to 5, 10, 15 or 20 second clips. Once the video clip is finished recording, kids can upload it to the LEGO VIDIYO app stream for other users to view.
That’s probably the big point of contention for parents, but LEGO says it will perform “external moderation of all content uploaded to the app’s feed.” Beyond LEGO’s own moderation, children are anonymous on the platform and require parental consent to use the app. LEGO says that in cases where the videos contain personally identifiable information, kids won’t be able to upload their video to the app’s stream, but instead can store the video locally so they can still watch it themselves. themselves or show it to their friends and family. .
LEGO VIDIYO definitely seems like an interesting product, but at the moment we have no information on how it will be sold. LEGO seems to be quite fond of blind bags these days, so we can certainly imagine the company offering these minifigures in such blind bags, perhaps with a selection of BeatBits included in each. The company could also choose to sell figures and BeatBits in more traditional sets, which would be ideal because at least kids and parents would know what they’re buying before they shop.
Ultimately, we wait for LEGO for more information. LEGO VIDIYO will launch in “most countries around the world” on March 1, so we’ll be looking for LEGO to share these additional details before then.
