Updated Nov. 21, 2013 4:50 p.m. ET
Music videos weren't a thing in 1965, the year Bob Dylan released "Like a Rolling Stone," so the famous song never got the cinematic treatment. But nearly 50 years later, it has.
On Tuesday, the digital-media company Interlude Studios, along with Israeli director Vania Heymann, introduced an interactive music video for the song to coincide with the release of Mr. Dylan's new career-spanning box set, a 47-disc compilation that includes every album the singer has ever released, plus rare material. By Wednesday evening, the company had tracked more than 1.5 million unique hits on the video.
Streaming at bobdylan.com, the work simulates the experience of channel-surfing with a remote control. Viewers press play to start the song and can click through 16 mock cable TV channels, most of which are faux productions of familiar cable staples such as cooking programs, news broadcasts and game shows. Each station offers its own version of the music video, with the characters on screen singing the Dylan song. When you flip from one station to another, the song continues seamlessly, with one channel's characters picking up where the other's left off.
The video is sprinkled with star cameos, including Drew Carey on "The Price is Right," Steve Levy on "SportsCenter" and even raunchy Detroit rapper Danny Brown, who lip-syncs lines about "scrounging for your next meal" while gobbling a sandwich.
Elsewhere, comedian Marc Maron rants at a sheepish podcast guest while mouthing, "You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal," and HGTV's "Property Brothers" Drew and Jonathan Scott show off a fancy house while singing, "Nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street." There is also a snapshot of guitar shopping on "Pawn Stars" and old footage of Mr. Dylan and the Hawks, an ancestor of The Band, performing the song on a station that resembles VH1 Classic.
Interlude's CEO Yoni Bloch said viewers were averaging about 13 channel changes per play, according to the company's data. "If someone stops on a channel, it's usually the one with old Dylan footage," he said, "though Danny Brown's is also popular."
Mr. Bloch founded Interlude in 2010 in Tel Aviv and soon expanded to New York and Palo Alto, Calif. The company's past work includes Subaru and Intel ads as well as an interactive music video for the band We the Kings. Mr. Dylan's team approached Mr. Bloch earlier this year, and he came up with a concept that he felt was "classic Dylan, but technologically new." Mr. Bloch said his team was excited for the project because most of them are also musicians in Israel. Mr. Bloch's own music is well enough known that he appeared as a guest judge on the country's version of "American Idol."
Director Vania Heymann said he was drawn to the concept of channel-surfing after seeing a number of Facebook FB +0.58% Facebook Inc. Cl A U.S.: Nasdaq $46.70 +0.27 +0.58% Nov. 21, 2013 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 34.63M AFTER HOURS $46.81 +0.11 +0.24% Nov. 21, 2013 5:43 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 187,226 P/E Ratio 108.60 Market Cap $113.98 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $1,487,770 11/20/13 Bosses May Use Social Media to... 11/19/13 U.S. Hiring Remains Tepid Amid... 11/19/13 Snapchat Users Upload More Pho... More quote details and news » posts debating the demise of TV. He felt the song "stood the test of time" and wanted to contrast it with clips that were unequivocally current. Danny Brown was his first choice.
" 'The Price is Right' is like wallpaper to most people," said Mr. Carey (he's hosted the show since 2007). "And every show in the video is like that... It's this series of channels and figures that you graze on your whole life, and all of a sudden they start talking to you and telling you the truth."
Write to Megan Buerger at megan.buerger@wsj.com
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