Music alone isn't enough, so Warner Bros. tries the visual album

It's a rock opera, of sorts, paired with a cool animated Web series from the folks who brought us the Gorillaz music videos. Bottom line: It's a new way to sell music at a time when the traditional record industry is seriously on the ropes. Warner Premiere, the division of Warner Bros. that handles direct-to-video titles, plans a September release of The Adventures of One Eskimo. It's dubbed a "visual album," which means it's a CD from British indie band One Eskimo with nearly 40 minutes of animation to go along with it. The content will be broken into 10 episodes, with a song to accompany each, and will be distributed across iTunes, pay-per-view, VOD, wireless and most any other available platform. (It's all about reach—Warner Bros. Digital Distribution is heavily involved.) Depending on the response, it may get a DVD release as well. The story follows a character named One Eskimo, who's trying to rescue his mate, Little Feather, from enemy-of-love Mr. Top Hat. He has help from a cadre of adorable critters (monkey, penguin, giraffe). There's a viral campaign, findlittlefeather.com, where fans can join the quest. Warner Premiere trotted out the band at the recent Comic-Con, where it wowed the assembled geeks on a brief break from its tour with Tori Amos. The studio is on the lookout for other music-Webisode-animation combos, with more visual albums to come.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley