LOS ANGELES -- Snapchat, known for its fleeting images and videos, surprisingly debuted a full-length music video from Madonna on Thursday.
Madonna's "Living for Love" appears in Snapchat's newly launched Discover tab, a feature that has transformed the ephemeral messaging app into a more robust media platform that's primed to attract more music videos, trailers and even original series.
Once users click on the Snapchat ghost in the Discover tab, they're taken to a teaser of the video (watch above). Swiping up opens the full music video, while swiping left brings them to behind-the-scenes footage, a quote and a short video message from Madonna.
Snapchat is the latest service -- behind Facebook, Twitter and Shazam -- to debut a music video, as musicians and labels are exploring new ways to distribute music to combat dwindling sales in the age of streaming, downloads and YouTube.
These apps and social networks typically secure 24 hours of exclusivity for each video.
Twitter has premiered music videos in tweets from Michael Jackson ("A Place With No Name"), Jennifer Lopez ("Booty"), Carrie Underwood ("Something in the Water") and more.
Here is the new music video for #SomethingInTheWater! #CmaAwards! https://t.co/zzeIeAcX2Q— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) November 6, 2014
Meanwhile, Facebook has debuted videos from such artists as Alicia Keys ("We Are Here"), Ed Sheeran ("Sing"), Jay Z ("Holy Grail") and Bruno Mars ("Gorilla").
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));Post by Ed Sheeran.
Madonna's Megan Lawson-choreographed video is the first from her Rebel Heart album, which has been plagued with leaks ahead of its March 10 release. It was directed by the French duo Julien Choquart and Camille Hirigoyen.
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