A handful of touched up music videos have already dropped.
More than 1,000 music videos are being revamped for modern screens by YouTube and Universal Music Group, including clips from Billy Idol, Lady Gaga and the Beastie Boys.
In a story published by The New York Times, artists in the first group of 100 music videos set to be given a facelift include Tom Petty, Boyz II Men, the Killers, KISS and Lionel Richie. All of the videos will be released through 2020.
One of the immediate issues the team will face is working with a handful of confusing, outdated video formats. David Mallet, the director behind Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding’ told The Times the clips were also obviously made for a different kind of screen back in the day.
“We were making videos for a screen that the very largest was 32 inches,” Mallet said.
“A lot of them just don’t hold up when they get blown up to 60-inch screens.”
Nevertheless, Billy Idol said he was glad his clips were being given a new lease on life.
“It gives these videos a chance against the modern high-quality definition. And I’m forever that age in these videos — it’s kind of fantastic,” he said.
One music video that’s been touched up is The Beastie Boys’ ‘Sabotage’, which you can check out below:
Another is Boyz II Men’s ‘End Of The Road’:
